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Tours Mistress of the 1,000 threads and keys
Martina Marcona
Do not lose the thread
«Setting up the loom is my favourite thing to do. I feel like the master of 1,000 threads,» says Martina Marcona proudly. Up to 2,500 threads have to be tucked, pulled in and knotted. She can't afford to make any mistakes, because the basis for the handmade products of Tessanda is laid during the setting-up process. From tea towels and pashminas to sports bags, carpets and deck-chair coverings, there is everything. Of course, individual one-offs are also possible.
Shot after shot of fabric enjoyment
Clattering and clacking resounds through the old weaving rooms: it is the sound that arises when the weavers shoot their «Schiffli» with the different threads and colours through the loom. By pressing up to twelve steps with their feet, the shafts rise and fall and the desired pattern emerges. In recent months, Martina Marcona and her colleagues have managed to give their traditional products a modern touch with new patterns and colours as well as personalised labels. It goes without saying that you can order online. A visit to Tessanda in Sta. Maria is nevertheless worthwhile.
Dream job hand weaver?
But becoming a hand weaver was by no means the original plan: after a year at the conservatory in Winterthur, homesickness drew the young woman from Münstertal back to Val Müstair. Like other women in her family, Martina Marcona then trained as a hand weaver in Tessanda in the 1980s. Something she does not regret in retrospect, because: «Val Müstair with its impressive mountains, its culture, language and people is the epitome of home for me.»
Mistress of the 1,000 keys
Martina Marcona proves that she is not put off by the sheer number of keys on an organ, as a temporary organist in church. But she is really in her musical element when she plays Rhaeto-Romanic rock songs on the electric piano with the band «Diabolics». For over 20 years, the band has been like her second family. And like real rockers, they also play without notes. Her songs emerge in a creative process: «Almost like when I try out and develop new fabric patterns.»
