LINK. The theme of the new Spazio Ricerca

LINK.
The theme of the new Spazio Ricerca

Editorial

Edition 98

22.05.2025

Link, the main theme of the new Spazio Ricerca curated by Angelo Figus together with Carrie Hollands (knitwear and yarns direction) and Manuela Sandroni (general coordination), is a fluid journey through the history of signs and ink which, as a primordial form of art, reaches the present day and projects itself into the future.

Link is the connection to the ancestral, the relationship with the present, the transfer toward the future, the indissoluble bond between peoples, eras and ages. The first tattoos date back roughly 5,000 years; their designs were created for therapeutic, social, magical, or purely aesthetic purposes. The earliest traces of tattooing can be found in prehistory, with examples that suggest a widely practiced art across many ancient cultures. Over the centuries, tattooing spread through different civilizations, taking on varied meanings depending on historical and social context. Across time, it transformed from a ritual with spiritual, therapeutic or social value into a more decorative and deeply personal art form. It is a journey from the most ancestral traditions to the new contemporary masters. These visual codes are at the heart of the upcoming Pitti Filati, which will explore and interpret the new signs and symbols of our time.

This palette is conceived as a tribute to the oldest forms of traditional tattooing, those that were not ornamental, but linguistic. Etched with essential tools – fire-tempered wood, bone tips, stone, or carved bamboo – those marks told stories of origin, protection and rite of passage. Skin became a map and memory. Color, too, was not a decorative choice but a ritual gesture.
Every shade in this palette carries the symbolic weight of those marks: soft, flesh-like tones recalling skin weathered by sun and life. Hues that evoke the body as the first canvas, a sacred territory on which to carve one’s destiny. These tones speak of a bond with the earth, of deep roots and of conscious scars. Warm notes pointing to blood, sap, and the vitality flowing beneath the skin. In many ancient cultures, tattooing was an act of courage, protection or offering.

This palette draws inspiration from the art of traditional American tattooing, a visual and symbolic heritage that reached the Western coasts along the routes traced by sailors. Deeply rooted in Polynesian traditions, these signs were reinterpreted in American ports, becoming the gritty and romantic soul of a generation constantly on the move

In the 1950s, tattoos were made with coil machines, hand-soldered needles, and inks often mixed by hand. Clean outlines and solid fields of color required strength and precision. Legendary artists such as Sailor Jerry, Brooklyn Joe Lieber, and Owen Jensen elevated the craft, defining a visual language of hearts, anchors, mermaids and swallows – simple yet deeply narrative symbols. This palette aims to capture the strength, melancholy, and intensity of those designs. Fresh, vibrant shades of blue evoke the open sea and the endless skies above sailors’ heads. Symbols like the anchor or swallow were tattooed for protection, for remembering one’s return, for affirming one’s bond to the sea. These blues embody travel, loyalty, and hope.

This palette is inspired by the imagery of the most daring and conceptual contemporary tattoos: abstract, metaphysical, hyper-detailed works that transform skin into an artistic and meditative surface. No longer just symbols, but inner landscapes. Traces of the unconscious, architectures of thought, visions suspended between dream and matter.
Each color here engages with this new sensitivity: shades that evoke conscious presence, mental clarity. They recall illuminations, moments of understanding, alchemical symbols. Mineral greys – raw yet elegant – represent the contrast between matter and spirit, suggesting apparent stillness and inner movement. They evoke the body as stone, a surface on which thought takes shape.

Floral, spring-like tones, fresh but abstract, express the awakening of an emotional dimension.