The neighbourhood
circular tailoring shop

The workshop

Ogigia makes bespoke and almost-bespoke garments, exclusively from reclaimed fabrics.

Circularity does not end with recycling the fabrics: Ogigia also offers a subscription model that allows different forms of owning a garment, thanks in part to a digital hybrid label recorded on the blockchain.

The project

With the ZAC project 'Garments in Circulation', a collaboration has been launched with Centrocot, a centre of excellence in the textile sector, to determine the composition of the fabrics and add this information to the hybrid label as required by the Digital Product Passport.

The project is networked with the many social and commercial enterprises in the districts of Pre-Maddalena-Molo, thus creating a hub for the circular textile economy in the historic centre of Genoa.

Awards

The Ogigia project has received various awards and co-funding, in particular:

• it was selected by the JobCentre for the 'Trame del Futuro' Expo, where it won the prize for 'innovation of the solution';
• it has received approval for the Bonus Caruggi;
• it is co-funded by the ZenaActiveCitizen project with a contribution from the European Union under the PN Metro Plus and Medium-Sized Southern Cities 2021 programme;
• it is supported, as artistic craftsmanship, by the Interreg project Art Lab Evolution;
• it is a member of the Ligurian Artistic Craftsmanship Association, with which it is pursuing a trans-artisan project on the theme of tarot cards.

The designer

Raffaella Rovida is the designer and founder of Ogigia, an artistic and circular tailoring workshop in the historic heart of Genoa. Her research grows out of the encounter between fashion, craftsmanship and a culture of sustainability.

For over twenty years she has worked on the themes of the circular economy and regeneration, and now brings that experience into the world of fashion. She has deepened her knowledge of pattern making and garment construction, developing over time a personal and experimental tailoring language.

For Ogigia she designs one-off garments conceived from the materials available, turning reclaimed fabrics, remnants and vintage clothes into new forms. Her patterns are designed to make the most of the fabric and to keep offcuts to a minimum. The construction of a garment deliberately stays open until the fitting, where the form takes on its final dimension.

Her style combines design rigour with expressive freedom, with particular attention to the relationship between body, material and movement. Every garment thus becomes an unrepeatable piece, born from the encounter between a textile story and the person who will wear it.

With Ogigia, Raffaella reads fashion as a creative, artisanal and circular practice, able to give value back to what already exists.

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