Prato, Italy

The first time I heard fabric merchants mention the word ‘Prato’ it was used disparagingly, condescendingly contrasted against the mighty mills of Biella. By and large, Biella is where the behemoths of Italian fabric production reside, reliant on an enormous supply of Australian and South African wool.

Vertically integrated, they control aspects of this process from thousands of miles away, and also the local elements: washing, spinning, weaving, dyeing and finishing. Prato is a totally different world. All the different stages of fabric production are performed by a chain of small independent businesses working hand-in-hand. A place of dynamism and adaptability, it's a flotilla of talented spinners, weavers and finishers versus the giant tankers of Biella; David against Goliath. Coincidentally it's the place where I began to hone our aesthetic through creating the first house Tessuti fabrics, producing blends, tones and finishes influenced by our London home. 

I'm hugely indebted to Prato, and this photobook presents a portrait of the place as it truly is. A base of talent and manufacturing, centered around a contrast between the harshness of the raw materials and the scientific alchemy of creating, blending and finishing yarns into forward thinking yet classic cloth. 

Many thanks to Neil Drabble for photographing Prato with the beauty and honesty for which his work is known, to Andrew Graham-Dixon for contextualising Prato so eloquently in his foreword and to Linda Byrne for presenting this work so fittingly. 

-- Jake Grantham

• Paperback
• 132 Pages
• ISBN: 9781036926717
  
• Photography: Neil Drabble
  
• Foreword: Andrew Graham-Dixon
• Design: Linda Byrne 
• Publisher: Anglo-Italian Editions (2025)