For the past four years Filippo Moia and Pietro have organized Feet First Fair, an independent publisher’s fair that took place in London 2016, in Milan 2017 and in Brussels and Oostende 2019.
The aim of the fair was to give an affordable place and time to the people they knew, and had researched; to exhibit, sell and trade their work as well as extending the reach of their work which would have otherwise been minimal. This was done by cutting the costs for the exhibitors to a point where the only things they had to take care of were reaching the location and eating. Lavish and free accommodation was provided by FFF, on friend’s sofas, floors and for some, even inside the location of the fair. No fee was demanded to participate.
During the fair and for the few days previous to it, exhibitors would gradually arrive, advice as to what to do in the evening, food and sightseeing was given by highly informed locals, the whole event was routinely topped off with a party hosted by carefully selected djs.
The outcome was pretty good, it seems like everyone had a good time.
Having been a vital part in the organization of and participation to this event we share its values and we see the importance of carrying them forward so, as it’s not unusual for independent projects to live in a box and get forgotten about, in an effort to support the work of the people around us, we are opening a platform to insure this does not happen.
Being very witty, we have decided to call it SocialFabric®.
SocialFabric® collects the work of the people around us who wish to sell it and expand its reach. We only stock some of these items to avoid unnecessary shipping, those that aren’t available for direct purchase will have a link to contact the maker who will take the payment and send it personally.
We do not take a cut of the profit from these sales.
We asked one of our closest friends and collaborator Andrea Cippo Rosso to be the first to list something on Social Fabric®. We also asked him to explain it himself because he is much better than us at it.
RV.
Andrea “Cippo” Rosso in London.
When Pietro and Yuri asked me to design a t-shirt for this forthcoming launch on Rayon Vert’s website I didn’t think I was the most appropriate person to do it. I could see Rayon Vert as an ultra-light outdoor garments line, and any type of natural environment has always been a no-no for me. I had a cup of tea and a couple of cigarettes with Pietro then, and I realized that maybe there was a reason why I’d been asked to be the first one to release a product for the launch of SocialFabric®.What we’d shared together, me, Pietro, and Yuri, wasn’t something related to the outdoors, it wasn’t related to hiking or to the latest technical gear, but it was about a personal journey we experienced together.
It was about travelling, but not on any path. It wasn’t about any breath-taking landscapes, but about the non-places we’ve been passing through together in the years.
So I collected some pics from my phone, the ones that physically and emotionally represented our landmarks from my past and my present, and put them on a t-shirt.
Looking at these places geographically located in Milan, my hometown Conegliano (a small city near Venice), London and Berlin now solely in the space of a t-shirt, the words to write next came to me spontaneously.
Those memories aren’t strictly related to the places where the photos were shot, but to the place I was in at that moment, and the people who were experiencing that by my side.
And the love I’ve received from them is the most valuable coin in the journey, the only thing I’ll bring back home.
Wherever my home is.
This is what I brought to the table for Social Fabric®, I’ll raise a glass for any of you.
Bring Back the Love,
ACR