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For Patrizia, the creative process cannot be separated from the way she looks at–and lives–life itself. She is full of energy and often on the move, whether walking and biking the hills of her hometown of Como or traveling with her husband and two teenage sons. Forever snapping photos on her phone of images that arrest her eye, she says “I mostly get my inspiration when I am either in nature (walking in the woods, mountain, sea) or in a city (could be a small village or a big city), by architectural construction, peeling walls, road signs...” She takes pleasure in the fabric of life itself, the mundane details and patterns that others wouldn’t necessarily notice. Her photos form the first building blocks of her designs: the images are re-drawn with a combination of hand work and Photoshop, and distilled down to very elemental shapes, which are put into repeat. She then transfers the black-and-white images onto screens and prints them onto reclaimed fabrics, which are carefully selected for the color and texture they will add to the final product. The printing technique can include multicolor, metallic and puff inks as well as multiple passes. She will often embellish or bleach the final products with an airbrush to perfect and age the pieces. From simple mono-type images come multi-layer works of art that are luxurious and rich, yet retain some of the off-the-cuff, punk rock aesthetics of their creator and her process-driven practice. Because her way of working involves multiple steps she’s constantly in motion, moving from bookshelf to computer, printing table to airbrush station, and this motion shows itself in her work. “What I love about my work is the fact that I can mix my creative part with the commercial one, so I don’t really get bored. When I am traveling I get lots of inspiration (which I wouldn’t get if I was always in my studio) and I also like the personal contact with people and customers, and the different lifestyles I find in all the countries I visit.” Patrizia’s work can usually be found at Comocrea in Como during Proposte, or at Heimtextil in Frankfurt each January. Or perhaps she will bring her work, and her irrepressible spirit, to your studio! Studio Visit - Patrizia Ortenzi the TEXTILE EYE | 83