Rocio’s new collection includes Orissa, a wall hanging hand woven in silk

Rocio Moreno, a Spanish interior and product designer and founder of Meridiana, a well known interior design firm in Spain, has been working and dealing with artisan in northern India for the past 14 years. These artisans of northern India, hand-weave silk brocades in brilliant colour.

Now presents a new collection includes Orissa, a wall hangings that depicts a stylized tree and silk brocades produced on manual looms. They are woven in bolts of 10mt. The fabrics are 100% silk and the construction is double satin. Some of the hangings are double cloth weave giving a greater consistency and luminosity.

These weavers are unique, in that they continue to work the complex technique of brocade by hand, in the same way as they were produced in the XV and XVI centuries in Venice and other eastern countries. This type of silk cloth is loomed with a double-warp and a specially treated silk, creating its extraordinary beauty and lustrous satin finish.

In the XV and XVI centuries this fabric was woven for the Imperial Mogul court. All the court rituals, its economic structure, salaries and rewards were built up around the symbolism, cost and almost mystical stature of the silk. Today they continue weaving silks and tapestries for temples and palaces, like those of the Dalai Lama and the Nepalese royal family.

Part of the collection is presented mounted on stretchers as well as hangings. The fabrics can also be used as decorative elements or for haute couture.

Rocio Moreno, when discovered these looms was fascinated by the work and the quality and textile of the silk. Until then, they only produced traditional designs. She decided to design a totally new collection using Ottoman motifs, giving them a more contemporary form and colour.