Venice, Dressed in Fortuny

Few names are as inseparable from Venice as Fortuny. Founded in 1921 by the visionary Spanish artist and inventor Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo, the house has spent over a century quietly perfecting its craft on the island of Giudecca, transforming cotton into something that carries the luminosity of silk and the depth of velvet through what Mariano himself called "scientific artistry."

Now, in a collaboration that feels almost inevitable, Fortuny's legendary textiles grace the cover of Assouline's special edition Venice, la Serenissima, binding two icons of beauty and culture into a single object.

The partnership was years in the making. A first meeting with Prosper and Martine Assouline in 2014 planted the seed, but it was only when Assouline returned with the idea of a Venice book that the dialogue truly began. "Venice is the first city where the East and West mixed in such a diverse way," says Mickey Riad, owner and Creative Director of Fortuny. "To be a part of the rich tapestry of Venice's history is something we do not take for granted."

What makes Fortuny's contribution to this edition so significant is not just its beauty, but its continuity. "Our proprietary methods were developed by our founder and are still in use today, in the original factory, using the original tools and systems he established," Riad explains. The result is a textile that doesn't merely decorate, it holds a soul.

For Riad, the hope is both simple and profound: that to hold this book is to touch a living piece of craft history. "To see how the light plays with the metallics," he says, "is to experience something that represents Venice and the arts so fundamental to the city's rich history", a city whose quality of light, incomparable beauty, and concentration of art in such a small area, Riad reflects, created the uniquely rich environment that Fortuny first fell in love with, and has never left.