Textile Botanical Garden®
Located in the cloister of the convent of Santa Chiara, with a fifteenth-century layout, the Orto Botanico del Tessile® was conceived by Clara Bertolini with Manuel Ramello.
The Chierese Foundation for Textiles and the Textile Museum created it thanks to the support of the Municipality of Chieri and the Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation as part of the project "An educational construction site for Chieri, City of Textiles", selected among the winners of the tender "Places of Culture" (2017-2019). This particular garden, equipped with waterproofed wooden caissons and an ad hoc irrigation system, requires constant care, research and enhancement - activities promoted by the Foundation with the commitment of volunteers, the scientific contribution of Giulia Perin (artist in residence who also conducts guided tours), as well as economic resources from the Municipality of Chieri (main supporter) and the Piedmont Region. Enriched and renovated in 2022 with a project curated by Melanie Zefferino, Claudio Zucca and Giulia Perin envisaging better use and accessibility, this garden is a space in which the link between textiles and nature is rediscovered as well as the value of a creative and sustainable.
L'Orto Botanico del Tessile is ideally divided into two sections. The first section includes plants whose fibers are used for spinning and weaving, especially flax (Linum usitatissimum L.), the cotton (Gossypium L.), the banana tree (Musa L.) and the fragrant broom (Spartium junceum L.), as well as common hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) and to Datisca cannabina L ., from which a yellow dye is obtained. From nettle ( Urtica dioica L .), which can also be spun, instead shades from green to blue are obtained depending on the mordant used in the natural dyeing process. For eco-printing, eucalyptus leaves (Eucalyptus pulverulenta Sims) can be used, from whose cellulose fibers - as is the case for bamboo ( Bambuseae ) – new generation yarns are obtained (Tencel and Lyocell®) made with eco-sustainable technology awarded by the European Union with the Environmental Award 2000. Other plants related to textiles are for example the mulberry ( Morus nigra L .), whose leaves are nourished by silkworms, the thistle of wool workers (Silybum marianum L.), who used its thorny flower head to card fibers and cloths, and the so-called "silk tree" ( Asclepias fruticosa L .), a botanical curiosity. Then there are species such as lavender ( Lavandula officinalis L .) and sage ( Salvia officinalis L .), always used to perfume fabrics or protect them from insect pests.
The second, larger section is dedicated to dyeing plants – starting with those used to obtain the blue tones and cultivated for centuries in the Chieri area, i.e. the gualdo ( Isatis you nctoria L .), the persicaria ( Persicaria tinctoria Spach), formerly polygon ( Polygonum tinctorium Aiton), the elderberry ( Sambucus nigra L.) and indigo ( Indigofera tinctoria L., Indigofera amblyantha Craib), from which the green is also obtained.
This color is also obtained from ivy (Hedera helix L.), from rue ( Ruta graveolens L.) and some edible plants, including the thistle of Chieri ( Cynara cardunculus altilis L.).
For the yellows, the species of traditional use excel, in particular the camomile of the dyers (Cota tinctoria L.), saffron (Crocus sativus L.), the Reseda luteola L., the Calendula officinalis L., safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.), mugwort, tansy (Tanacetum vulgare L.) and the barberry (Barberis vulgaris L.), but also the Curcuma longa L., the marshmallow (Althaea officinalis L., v. black), the African daisy (Dimorphoteca Vaill.), the sunflower (Heliantus annuus L.), the Coreopsis tinctoria nutt. and more. Orange hues can be obtained from marigold (tagetes L.), from rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum L.) and from henna (Lawsonia inermis L.).
For tones from pink to purplish we find domestic and wild madder (Rubia tinctorum And Pilgrim ruby L.), theAlchemilla vulgaris L., the bramble (Rubus ulmifolius Schott), hypericum in its shrubby and herbaceous variants ( Hypericum ), the poppy ( Papaver rhoeas L.), the ornamental cabbage ( Brassica oleracea L.), the Phytolacca americana L. and the Alkanna tinctoria (L. – Tausch), the latter once widespread in the Mediterranean but today very rare and present here also in the oriental species ( Alkanna orientalis L.).
Among the plants from which gray and black tones are obtained, historically obtained from gall nuts, we find the yellow iris (Iris pseudocorus L.).
From walnut (Juglans L.) brown and tannin are obtained to be used as a mordant, which can also be obtained from the peel of the pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) and from the bark of other trees.
The first of its kind in Piedmont, the Orto Botanico del Tessile® is understood as hortus of beauty that integrates the book heritage of the Foundation's specialist library and is grafted onto the exhibition itinerary of the Chieri Textile Museum.
In 2023, the seedlings destined for the flowerbed surrounding the GUALDO MILL (legacy of Armando Brunetti) were born from the seeds of gualdo (Isatis tinctoria) of flowering plants in the Botanical Garden of Textiles, which the Foundation donated to the City of Chieri so that also in the new urban park, the PaTCh, the historical memory of the multifaceted culture of textiles and its Arts will be preserved for a future marked by creativity, sustainability and harmony with Natura.
