Silk Factory Institute

The Istituto di Setificio (Silk Factory Institute), established in Como as a school for artisans in 1869, is now known as I.S.I.S. Setificio Paolo Carcano. It is named after the senator of Como origin who in 1903 elevated the school to the National State Institute: since then, the school has had a branch dedicated to the study of textile creation and processing. Nowadays, I.S.I.S. still has a link to the past, with the "Textile Design" course, a vocational course for creative textile designers unique in Italy. Thanks to the presence of Manlio Rho and Carla Badiali, this institute can be considered one of the places where applied art meets visual art. Carla Badiali, a student on the textile design course, learnt how to design and apply design to fabric, the stylization process that led her to abstraction.