BeSPOKE 07

IN 1986, ON RETURNING FROM
A LONG JOURNEy IN ASIA,
luCiAno BARBERA SAID
TO HIS FATHER AND BROTHER:
“EITHER WE CHANGE
EVERyTHING AND RETURN
TO OUR SUPREME ART
FOCUSING ON EXCELLENCE
AND SOPHISTICATION OR WE
RISK TOTAL ANNIHILATION...”.
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mind. All the largest Western countries are rethinking
their real economic policies and defending the
birth and consolidation of new companies. In Italy
producing has become something to be ashamed
of. We are destroying everything. It is tragedy for a
country whose roots go back to the Renaissance.
We need to rethink and quickly or time will run out”.
The wool makers of Biella have one great prerogative
which has conquered the whole world not just
a single continent with ‘Made in Italy’. Intuition. Barbera
made it 360 degrees on an evening in 1986 in
the social club in Piazza dei Martiri in Biella - a powerhouse
town where every elegant person in the
world should go at least once in his or her lifetime -
when he brought together the key players in the
wool industry such as zegna, Botto Poala and Piacenza
to cite but a few. “I told them what I thought
about the importance of our history and traditions
and the uncertain future awaiting us if we didn’t
make some brave decisions. I sewed the seed that
led to the birth of the Biella Master delle Fibre Nobili
(www.biellamaster.it, n.d.r.). A bulwark to preserve
know how. Today company work experience - for
the Master’s - takes place both in Italy and abroad.
International experience with companies and distribution
brands in Europe, China, Australia, USA and
Japan is of particular importance. With the partnership
of the Australian sheep farmers, students gain
expertise in all the phases which occur before textile
working: sheep breeding, shearing, selection and
sale of the wool by auction. Barbera is also known for
his bold battles in defence of ‘Made in Italy’ and the
traceability of goods and raw materials. He has unmasked
various attempts at manipulation and falsification
of the ‘Made in Italy’ label at European level
too and warned of the risk of loss of manufacturing
identity. “There’s a lot of short-sightedness amongst
politicians and industrialists who don’t understand
what needs doing to defend Italian products, the
outcome of thousands of years of practical civilisation.
The push to industrialisation, just like internationalisation
and globalisation have prompted
many to focus on turnover and brand name policies
alone without quality content. Today the negative
effects of this are visible above all now in this devastating
crisis. Let’s give our industrialists hope once
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