Accessories Brand Stòffa Puts Process First on 100-Year-Old Looms

Ask almost any designer where their products start and you'll wind up staring at pages in a sketchbook. But ask Agyesh Madan, founder of accessories brand Stòffa, and you'll be regaled not with scribbles of scarves and hats but with stories of century-old looms and the behaviors of different types of dye. Madan is all about the process of making and with Stòffa has found a way to turn what could easily become esoteric shop-talk into incredible accessories that tell the stories of how they are made.

We'll start with Stòffa's scarves. First came the looms instead of the usual designer process of creating some esoteric "color story." These looms are no, pardon the pun, run-of-the-mill standards; they happen to be jacquard shuttle looms that reside in Biella, Italy, and date to the early 20th century. They are engineered to produce edge-finished scarves, meaning there is no trimming and waste on the sides. Given the extensive, hands-on R&D required to work with these 100-year-old machines, Madan invested in the equipment instead of renting time, garnering him a timeshare of sorts in which to really get his hands dirty experimenting with what they can do.