La Tipa

"La tipa e la barchetta" grew out of the drawings of its creator, Dr Rossella Russo: a hand-drawn girl, a paper boat, red stripes and handwritten thoughts. The aim was to turn that world into an ethical fashion label for grown women with a child's light touch: made in Southern Italy, from natural, traceable materials, and openly committed to slow fashion.

We began with interviews and market research to find the right positioning, then set the building blocks of the brand: la Tipa at the heart of every composition, the origami boat as a sign that keeps changing shape, red stripes running through the collections, nature and handwritten thoughts. Working from her illustrations, we developed the graphics and eight patterns for clothing and accessories. We chose the pieces for the core collections, prepared the paper patterns, print artwork and embroidery files, and took la Tipa off the page: stitched onto fabric, in conversation with the garment that carries her.

The first prototype collections, printed and embroidered in our workshop: T-shirts with la Tipa and the patterns, shoppers, canvas labels with the embroidered logo, and cotton pieces with the Tipa's thoughts stitched in thread, like "ogni tanto inciampo nella Vita" (now and then I trip over Life).