The Blogazine

Verger’s Piece of Green

Verger is a pioneer in the sometimes conservative business establishment of Milan. It is thoughtful individuals behind a very savvy brand that not only taps into, but clearly cares deeply about the best of today’s zeitgeist and emphasises quality, creativity, sustainability, craftsmanship, simplicity and change. Last year, they opened a shiny new space at the pinnacle of Via Varese and Via Volta that is, in their words “a place that embraces young creativity” and is one in a handful of bright spots in the ongoing renaissance of Milan as a creative capital in a century with radically altered priorities. The open and warm space, executed by Marco Bonelli of BAM Design, is modular and dynamic and includes an inventive restaurant, Verger Kitchen, as well as a boutique and exhibition spaces.

The core of Verger, in any case, lies in its highly regarded knitwear line that in turn finds its roots in cashmere purveyor Cristiano Fissore. Today, the collection is designed by the very talented Carolina Mazzolari, an alumnus of the University of Arts of London. Carolina describes herself as first and foremost a textile designer, and thus brings a rigorous expertise of fibre and construction. She impressively not only conceives each Verger piece, but also designs the knitted textiles they’re made from. With an almost Scandinavian sensibility, she sources raw materials from Italy when possible, and always with an equal eye towards sustainability and luxury. The designer’s lines are pure, use of colour is sober, and the resultant pieces are enduringly beautiful and classic. Over coffee Carolina hinted to The Blogazine of a possible future men’s line under the label. We’re already queuing.

This November 4th, the space played host to an exhibition in collaboration with AT Casa, billed “Meet A Piece of Green From Milan” and conceived by Daniele Belleri and Elena Comincioli. It is, quite intriguingly, an ongoing project dedicated to the valorisation and appreciation of the spontaneous, unplanted plants in an urban setting; a tribute, essentially, to the weed. The premise is elegant: green growing from a crack in a sidewalk may be a nuisance, a hazard, an allergen, but can when reconsidered become “an unexpected source of beauty, of fragrance, and of colour.”

Milan, with its dearth of green space and abundance of urban decay is in no position to continually destroy and chop down a potential source of free beauty within. With a panoramic eye on renewed collective space, and in response to a critical need for a rethinking of urban space around the world, the exhibition offers a fascinating perspective and an segue to a potentially very fruitful dialogue. The exhibition had been previously shown at this year’s London Design Festival, and this time around visitors were invited to adopt their own potted piece of found Milanese green to take home and love.