Alba Amicorum Limited

From her studio in a historic Belgravia mews, graphic designer and gallerist Darshana Shilpi Rouget has conceived Alba Amicorum as an incubator for wearable textile art. Her medium is scarves, meticulously printed in limited editions, the result of collaborations with artists and artisans. Collaboration is at the core of the brand, inspired by the Renaissance practice of keeping a friendship book—album amicorum in Latin. Young men and women in 16th-century Europe would fill their alba amicorum with musings, illustrations and contributions from the influencers of their day. Such journals were used by German and Dutch students to record their educational journeys. As they travelled between universities, they took their albums with them, inviting other students and academics to contribute with inscriptions, artworks, poems, and profiles of places and people. A cross between a scrapbook and an autograph album, these books have been described as an early form of social media, connecting friends separated by distance, reinforcing relationships, and showing off literary and artistic connections. They made academic life relevant and contemporary. Channelling this spirit, Alba Amicorum brings relevance to art by liberating it from the frame and transferring it onto fluid fabric—to be worn, draped or wrapped in any way the wearer chooses. Like Renaissance friendship books, the scarf becomes a personal means of communication. Collaborating artists span different generations, cultural backgrounds, and media, and have included the Man Ray Trust, New York watercolourist Deni Javas, writer Ross Klavan and style photographer James T Murray. Their work is translated onto silk, cashmere and other natural materials by a skilled family of Italian artisans who print scarves for some of fashion's most prestigious designers. Each limited edition piece is authenticated with a numbered certificate and presented in a Japanese-inspired archival wooden box.
Social Link - Twitter: https://twitter.com/Alba_Amicorum
Social Link - Facebook: https://facebook.com/AlbaAmicorum
Social Link - Linkedin: http://www. linkedin.com/company /alba-amicorum
Employee Count: 1
Keywords: retail luxury goods & jewelry