June 1, 1915. It is a late spring day when Francesco Ilorini Mo comes into the world in Arola, a village on the banks of Lake Orta. His father works at the local power plant while his mother comes from a farming family. With a talent for drawing and an innate aesthetic sense, Francesco grows up at the foothills of the rugged Italian Alps in a farmhouse surrounded by flourishing forests and simple gestures. He is an astute observer, a sensitive and imaginative child who immediately establishes a deep connection with nature and its creatures. To those who inquire about his emotional relationship with fabrics throughout his entire career, he enjoys telling the story from his childhood about his famous hens and their “diapers:” to prevent their eggs from rolling down the slopes of the farmyard, Francesco crafted soft pouches for them to wear, and, of course, the bags perfectly matched their feathers.
Francesco is, as they say, a wunderkind. He begins working at the local Sesia Valley textile company and becomes the chief designer in the blink of an eye. Modest in his manner, tireless in his dedication, and full of disruptive ideas, he earns a reputation as a creative visionary. But he is also driven by the strong desire to start his own mill, to reach new standards of excellence, and to pursue unprecedented tactile and visual sensations by emulating the art of nature.
Thanks to his freethinking and fervent imagination, he comes to the attention of two great industrialists of the region, who decide to support his vision. Lanerie Agnona is born in 1953; the name is a tribute to the small town in the Sesia Valley at the foot of Monte Rosa for which Francesco has a spiritual attachment. The creative is now an entrepreneur: thanks to the generous patronage of and solidarity between textile pioneers, his dream is now a reality.
He believes in the sublimity of Mother Nature, which never betrays. First observing and then running his fingers through the animals’ fleece, Francesco has been fascinated by this tactile perfection from a young age. So much so, that he wants to emulate and reproduce it in his fabrics. It is in search of this excellence that he travels the world as a modern-day Marco Polo. And by visiting its hidden corners, from Tasmania to Peru, and from Mongolia to China, he sources the finest natural fibers, including vicuna, cashmere, and alpaca. He brings them to his mill in Agnona and creates the most innovative and exquisite textiles.
Francesco and his suitcase, overflowing with fabrics, are one. Wrapped in his iconic white alpaca coat, which he wears all year round, the alchemist of fabrics arrives in Paris—a city that is difficult for many but not for him. With his affable character, he enters every exclusive salon and soon becomes a close friend and supplier to the greatest couturiers, including Christian Dior, Cristóbal Balenciaga, Pierre Balmain, and Yves Saint Laurent.
the trademark Hermès and Pierre Cardin are not owned by Agnona, nor is a collaboration in progress today.
He believes in the sublimity of Mother Nature, which never betrays. First observing and then running his fingers through the animals’ fleece, Francesco has been fascinated by this tactile perfection from a young age. So much so, that he wants to emulate and reproduce it in his fabrics. It is in search of this excellence that he travels the world as a modern-day Marco Polo. And by visiting its hidden corners, from Tasmania to Peru, and from Mongolia to China, he sources the finest natural fibers, including vicuna, cashmere, and alpaca. He brings them to his mill in Agnona and creates the most innovative and exquisite textiles.
Francesco and his suitcase, overflowing with fabrics, are one. Wrapped in his iconic white alpaca coat, which he wears all year round, the alchemist of fabrics arrives in Paris—a city that is difficult for many but not for him. With his affable character, he enters every exclusive salon and soon becomes a close friend and supplier to the greatest couturiers, including Christian Dior, Cristóbal Balenciaga, Pierre Balmain, and Yves Saint Laurent.
