Visitors to the Venice Architecture Biennale who may be around the Arsenale area looking for ethical and made in Venice souvenirs should check out the shop Banco Lotto N. 10.
Located in the Castello area (address: Salizada Sant'Antonin, 3478/a; 10 minutes from the Arsenale), the shop only sells garments - dresses, jackets, bags and Carnival costumes - made in the tailoring and dressmaking workshops of the Istituto Penale Femminile (Women's Prison) on the Giudecca Island.
All the pieces are made by hand employing high quality fabrics (such as Rubelli's) or with recycled textiles (including coffeee bean sacks). There are two penitentiaries in Venice, one for men and another for women, and both the prisons include workshops and laboratories: there are printing facilities in the male prison and convicts make (also on order) T-shirts and bags with recycled PVC banners; the female prison also features a cosmetics laboratory that keeps alive the tradition of the Venetian herbalists.
All these workshops help generating awareness about the activities for inmates, while offering them at the same time training and preparing them for a fresh start in life.
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos
Comments