EMMA BRUSCHI: COLLECTION ALMANACH
Emma Bruschi (*1995, lives and works in Paris, Marseille and Geneva) is one of the rising stars in the fashion design scene. She received several prestigious awards for her Collection Almanac, with which she completed her Masters in Fashion and Accessories at the renowned HEAD (Haute école d’art et de design) in Geneva, in 2019. While her creations reflect on today’s discussion about sustainability, the consistency and sincerity of her work are particularly noticeable.
Emma Bruschi describes the combination of the work of a farmer with that of a designer as her own personal professional goal. The starting point of her work is life in rural and agricultural surroundings. The name of the collection is characteristic. The term “almanac” refers to an old agricultural calendar, which reports on the rhythms of work in the fields and provides an insight into a visual universe of rural and farm life. The numerous motifs that Emma Bruschi integrates into her clothing or everyday objects are taken from these old agricultural calendars.
The designer is particularly interested in old manual techniques, which she learns herself and integrates into her designs. “I discovered,” explains Emma Bruschi, “that in the past, every household simply knew how to embroider, knit or spin. In every village there was someone who mastered techniques such as glass blowing, basket weaving or carving. […]. These were not necessarily professions – it was more of a knowledge that had been passed down over centuries.” For her Collection Almanach, the designer worked with a blacksmith, a basket weaver, a glassblower and a spinner, among others. Baskets, wooden shoes or straw mules embroidered with glass beads bear witness to this process and transfer the craft into the here and now.
Straw as a material plays a special role in Emma Bruschi’s work. “When I first visited the straw museum in the park in Wohlen,” explains the young woman, “I really realized how diversely straw can be used.” Inspired by the straw braids on display, she learned the “Schnüerle”, a technique in which the split straws are twisted into thin cords in a complex process. The fruits of this course form a visual focus in the Collection Almanac. Emma Bruschi crochets items of clothing such as shoes, trousers, shirts, hats and vests from straw cords or she applies them to fabrics in traditional motifs. The material will accompany the designer for a long time to come. Since 2020 she has been growing a grain field on her grandparents’ farm in order to use the straw obtained in this way for new designs.
Emma Bruschi’s work is characterized by nostalgia, by a glorified view of a bygone era, by a longing for self-sufficiency. Nevertheless, the designs are unmistakably contemporary. They show self-confidence, are direct, uncompromising and stringent. They help old materials and handicraft techniques that are threatened with oblivion to a new topicality and they contrast a consumption-driven society with a philosophy of life that shows new ways and promotes a rethinking.
STROHMUSEUM IM PARK BÜNZSTRASSE 5 5610 WOHLEN, SWITZERLAND
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The above text was kindly shared by the Strohmuseum’s director, Petra Giezendanner, with The Basket Gallery for the purposes of the exhibition. In 2021, Emma Burschi’s work was included in the exhibition Wild Thing – The Swiss Fashion Scene of the Design Museum in Zurich. In 2022, the Straw Museum in Wohlen also run an exhibition on her work.
These linen pants are all embroidered by hand with raffia according to the Lunéville Haute-couture technique. The pocket is in crochet Crochet is a process of creating textiles by using a crochet hook to interlock loops of yarn, thread, or strands of other materials. The name is derived from the French term crochet, meaning ‘small hook’. The key difference between crochet and knitting is that each stitch in crochet is completed before the next one is begun, while knitting keeps many stitches open at a time.
with hand-spined straw, grown in her grand parents’ garden.