Story of the Style – Intarsia Aviator
The new Intarsia Cropped Aviator and Intarsia Collars are a unique, elevated, yet playful addition to our most wanted Aviator collection. The intricate nature of these designs requires high level craftsmanship from our artisans and stand out as special editions in our brand. Georgia shared her inspiration for the concept and an insight behind the scenes of the production of the new Intarsia Aviator Group for the latest edition in our ‘Story of the Style’ series.
What was your inspiration?
My design process, much like the brand ethos, is all about building. The inspiration behind the Intarsia Group came from wanting to build on our existing best-selling Cropped Aviator style whilst somehow incorporating the brand's distinct onion quilting into this design. We worked with the contrasting colours of our rich shearling and hand painted napa leather sides to recreate Marfa Stance’s signature onion pattern quilting design, and experimented with the mix of these textures to make the jackets warmer and more specific to colder months.
How long does it take to make?
It is a very intricate process to recreate the signature onion quilting pattern into the Intarsia pieces. Our artisans have to hand cut the strips of shearling with the utmost precision and sew them together following the detailed pattern, avoiding gaps between the strips. This process requires total accuracy and the use of a specialist fur stitch machine, and it takes twenty-four hours to create the desired, detailed, and uniform final pieces. It is our most time consuming piece that we make, but I think this translates into the look and feel of these standout, special edition designs.
How many artisans work on it and who are they?
It takes nine artisans and specialists in our family run factories in Italy to bring our Intarsia designs to life. A team of experts in the field hand select the shearling, apply the Napa finish, create the quilting, cut and bind the leather. We specifically work with a specialist fur producer and manufacturer, based outside of Florence, who’s solely responsible for creating the intricate shearling onion quilting design. Our garments are assembled piece by piece and stitched together before our buttonholes are fashioned and welded. It is clear when you see the final pieces of our Intarsia Aviator group the amount of care and craftsmanship that has gone into each piece.
What are the key design elements?
We have continued the silhouette, tailoring and zipper details from our Cropped Aviator styles, but the colours, surface design, weight and warmth of material have all been upgraded in our Intarsia pieces, creating a more strikingly visual jacket suitable for those colder months. Another key design element that features in our garments is the elbow ruching that ensures the sleeves can comfortably bend despite the internal shearling layer. It is essential that our pieces are both beautiful and functional, so the upcycled nylon used in our Intarsia Jacket protects the shearling and Napa leather, making it durable and allowing you to have a slimmer fit.
What are the modular elements?
Each Intarsia Cropped Aviator has a corresponding Intarsia Aviator Collar, which features the contrasting leather and shearling in an identical colour match, making the end result look as though the two components are in fact one striking piece. All of our modular garments are designed to be fluid so that a wearer is never restricted by one style group or colour, so you can pair any of our other collars with the Intarsia Cropped Aviator, or our modular hoods, which add additional warmth and protection from the elements.
