About the Italian home textiles from Tessitura
Home textiles from Florence – woven, printed and sewn in Italy since 1947
Tessitura Toscana Telerie is a family-owned weaving mill in Sesto Fiorentino, just outside Florence. It was founded in 1947 by two friends, Fano Puliti and Vinicio Tarli, in the years when Italy was getting back on its feet after the war, and today it is run by the third generation. What began with tablecloths and kitchen textiles grew to include bed linen in 1958, and today the range spans tablecloths, tea towels, placemats, cushions, bedspreads, throws, mats and bed sets – all with the joy of colour and humour that have become Tessitura’s hallmark.
At Rune-Jakobsen Design we have sold Tessitura’s textiles for many years and continue to carry a wide selection of the collection. We chose them because they hold what we look for ourselves: origin, durability and an expression created with care.
The motifs begin as watercolours
What sets Tessitura’s textiles apart from most others is the route from idea to fabric. The mill works with a circle of Italian artists and designers who first paint the motifs in watercolour – and only then are they transferred to print on linen or cotton. That is why, in a tea towel, a tablecloth or a bedspread, you can see the brushstrokes, the light transparency of watercolour and the lively, organic expression that only hand-painted originals give. Some motifs are instead woven into the fabric as jacquard, so the pattern sits in the weave itself and lasts wash after wash.
The result is a universe that ranges from the elegant and classic – lemons from the Amalfi Coast, hibiscus, tulips – to the playful and humorous with roosters, cats, fish and vegetables. What they all share is an unmistakably Italian aesthetic.
High-quality linen and cotton
The linen textiles are light, elegant and versatile. Linen is the hardest-wearing natural fibre, keeps its shape, regulates heat and absorbs moisture better than cotton – and gets softer with every wash. Tessitura uses European-grown linen, considered the best in the world thanks to the climate and the growers’ generations of experience, and the plants are grown without irrigation.
For its cotton textiles Tessitura chooses only long-staple cotton from the best growing regions in Egypt and the USA. The long, fine fibres give a soft, strong and smooth fabric suited to everything from bed sets to tea towels. Both the linen and cotton textiles are Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certified, so they are free from harmful substances.
Made with care
Tessitura weaves, prints and sews in Italy. The mill covers around half of its own energy consumption with solar panels on the roof, and surplus power is fed back into the grid. Packaging is fabric bags wherever possible and recycled plastic where transparent packaging is needed. No grand words – just a factory that has made its own decisions about how things should be made.
Getting the most from your textiles
Linen and cotton from Tessitura will last for many years if you wash at 40 degrees, avoid bleach and dry in the shade or on the line. Linen can be ironed slightly damp or used with its natural, lively crease. If you have questions about sizes, motifs or care, write to Kari at info@rune-jakobsen.dk – we know the collection inside out.
Read more about the mill’s history and materials on the page About Tessitura Toscana Telerie, or go straight to the collections below.
Inspiration: Tessitura Toscana Telerie — Italian textile art from Florence since 1947 · Why does linen become softer over time? · How to make linen cloths absorb better
