Featured in Tess Magazine: tailoring skills, 2014
Tess Magazine profiled Daniele Orlandi in 2014 alongside three other young Como-area designers — Ilaria Barone (Artrust) and the Ariafritta duo, Lisa Colagrossi and Francesca Sassi — in a feature titled "Abilità sartoriale in progetti d'autore" ("Tailoring skill in signature projects"), built around first-person profiles of each designer.
About the feature
In his own words, Orlandi traces his path: he completed a course in 2008 at Istituto Polimoda (Florence) and moved to Berlin to build on what he had learned. He returned to Italy once he recognised the gaps still standing between creativity and technical skills. As he said at the time, "I returned to Italy to learn the fundamentals of tailoring."
He started from the basics before moving to an advanced tailoring course. The course was concieved as a real atelier experience where students had to produce a full women's collection. He faced the real production stages: sketch, pattern, first toile, prototype, fitting and corrections. He interned in the workshop of Teatro Sociale di Como that introduced him to fast-paced, team-based production. The proudest result of that period, in his account, was sewing his sister's wedding dress with help from the school's teachers. By 2012 he had enrolled in Istituto Secoli's "Intensivo Modellistica Donna" course in Milan. The reference point to sharpen his pattern-cutting further. His stated goal at the time was to create designs that were innovative yet easy to wear — simple, but with an identity of their own.
Source
Tess Magazine, "I profili" section, pp. 30-31, 2014. Graphic elaboration by Antonella Corengia. [Link to digital newsstand]