The timeless elegance of Fortuny

The name Fortuny possesses a mystic status. Mariano Fortuny was an artist, inventor, light technician, photographer, and designer. Born in Granada, in 1871, the son of one of Spain’s most renowned artists’, the family travelled extensively throughout Europe visiting historical museums and galleries. After his father’s early death at the age of 36 from malaria while on a holiday in Rome, the family moved to Paris where he studied painting and colour. In 1889, at the age of 17, Mariano and his family moved once again, settling in Venice, a pivotal point in his life-long fascination with innovation.

Venice was the perfect city for a young bohemian to follow an untraditional path and leave a legacy that is still honoured today. It was home to artists, musicians, poets, and opera. Opera incorporated all art forms that he loved – music, painting, theatre, costumes, and lighting. His revolutionary idea to transform gas lamps with light bulbs that could diffuse illumination, based on reflecting light off a piece of paper, resulted in the invention of the ‘dimmer switch’ that revolutionized the design of opera houses throughout Europe and still influence how we light our homes over a hundred years later.  

In 1924 Marino Fortuny and Henriette Negrin were married after they first met in 1897 and had been living together in Venice for over two decades. She was his lifelong creative partner, sharing their interest in textiles and fashion. Henriette researched dyes, print making and developed a pleating machine that played a central role in the design of the famous Delphos Gown.  In their studio Mariano and Henriette, experimented with natural dyes from plant extracts and insects. In 1922 the Fortuny’s opened a factory on the island of Giudecca and introduced their first printed fabrics, using unconventional machines invented by Mariano that are still used today. Well-guarded methods created cottons that had the illusion of depth and texture that resembled the finest velvets and silks. Henriette invented a pleating machine that played a central role in the design of the famous silk Delphos Gown, decorated with glass beads inspired by the simplicity of Roman tunics. Their dresses were seen as pieces of art. She is also credited as the designer of the ‘Knossos Scarf’, a thin, delicate silk wrap. Henriette’s pleating machine was patented in her name in 1909. Fortuny fabrics became renowned for their intricate designs and bold colours making a lasting impression on 20th century design and fashion.

Their studio, the Palazzo Orfei (now the Fortuny Museum located between San Marco and the Rialto Bridge), became a visionary workshop where Mariano’s obsession with lighting resulted in the creation of the Fortuny Modalamp (1907) featuring a reflective dome shade on top of a tripod base. He later designed his iconic decorative Arabic-influenced light fixtures using delicate wire frames stretched with hand-painted silk designs that have graced the homes of Elizabeth Taylor, Karl Lagerfield and many beautiful interiors around the world. He loved the creative process of learning how things worked. He obsessed over the finest details, colour, and techniques well ahead of his time. During his lifetime Mariano patented more than 20 inventions.

Today, the factory on Giudecca that opened in1922, still produces their distinctive cotton textiles printed on machinery originally designed by Mariano. When he died in 1949, Henrietta sold the rights for cotton and wallpaper to American designer Elsie McNeill Lee, who had been Fortuny’s exclusive distributor in the United States. In the late 1980s, she asked her trusted friend Maged Riad to take over the business. Today, his sons Mickey and Maury Riad are the creative directors and CEO of Fortuny. They continue to produce fabrics in the original factory on the same machines, using the same processes and techniques developed by Mariano. 

Henriette retained the rights for velvet and silk production and continued for many years. After her death in 1965, the city of Venice took over the Atelier at Palazzo Orfei and in 1975 the Fortuny Museum officially opened to the public to showcase paintings, drawings, and fashions including pleated silk dresses, velvet coats and ethnic shawls. In 1984 Lino Lando, became interested in Fortuny’s iconic light fixtures and became an authorized manufacturer and retailer. Today they are hand-crafted in Venice from the highest quality materials and made with time-honoured techniques steeped in the history of the creative genius of Mariano Fortuny, the ‘Wizard of Venice’.