"In the conception of this work I was very aware of my position as an outsider to Italy and to the culture of business and indeed work inside a factory. As I understood this project it was a first step into dialogue between industrial and cultural production on a somewhat different footing, beginning with the hard outside surfaces of factories, hoping to render them more fluid, attractive and communicative. This work hopes to communicate at a universal level with its open ended message. I did not want to target any specific group or community (such as workers inside the factory), or be dogmatic in the what could be communicated by this large scale mural. The work is divided in two parts. The first consists of six maps of the earth depicting the formation of the continents in different geological periods, from the Cambrian (570 million years ago) through to the present day, via the Carboniferous period (340 million years ago), the Permian period (280 million years ago), the Jurassic period (195 million years ago) and the Eocene epoch (50 million years ago). These are fabricated from painted steel and are in relief 5 cm from the surface of the wall. The second part is a text of three-dimensional letters, (also fabricated from painted steel), superimposed over the maps, the sentence reads: “Il cambiamento è inevitable” (Change is Inevitable). The project draws its inspiration from the geographic and geological position of Biella, situated as it is between a plain and the foothills of the Italian Alps. It occupies a geologically interesting position, characterized by a slow process of change that recalls the geological formation of the Earth, where tectonic plates collided and separated to create phenomena such as the Alps and continue to move today slowly changing the land masses before us and under our feet. The work hopes to invite reflection about the passing of time and engender a sense of possibility; it suggests that certain changes take place in front of our eyes without us realizing it, while others are more tangible and depend on human actions, and reminds us that, though we feel we are in charge of the order of things, certain things will always escape us and are beyond our grasp. Time passes and the economy, geology and geography are transformed".
CHARLIE JEFFERY, Artist

"The Il Cambiamento è inevitabile project (Change is Inevitable) represents for us a very interesting concept because is the actual situation of our company, but not only, in fact all the world is in the middle of a big change: economy, political, climate. The idea of Charlie to represent the Earth in its geological evolution,is an encouraging message. Means that we are not able to stop the changes but on the contrary we must be able to react at this change and work with them. Only with humble and flexibility, consistency, determination and of course with an enthusiastic passion we’ll be protagonist of this new era".
ERCOLE BOTTO POALA, Managing Director of the Successori Reda S.P.A.

"The Skin to Skin project we developed for the Botto Giuseppe & Figli mill represents the profiles of the people involved in the production process. The colours are based on those of the skins of the people in the countries from which the raw materials come and to which the textile products are exported. We didn’t limit ourselves to colouring the outer walls, we went into the factory as well, to develop ideas with the workers themselves, to make the creative contribution something not extemporaneous and externally imposed, but the result of a real exchange of ideas with the people living the space on a daily basis".
ULRIKE KOHNEN-ZÜLZER and KANE CHANH DO, Artists

"The idea of using profiles is very interesting: they represent the individual, and the collective of individuals contributing to the production and that in effect constitutes the factory. The faces, all together side by side, represent the production system: many people working individually, but in a common system. The profile really should’ve been female, given the extraordinary importance of the contribution women have made to the textile industry since its very origins. The work by Ulrike and Kane is a homage to the Biella district and its people, women and men who over the years have created something highly significant: a working excellence founded on human creativity, the real reason why our company strategy doesn’t consider the possibility of moving production away from the district".
FERDINANDO BOTTO POALA, Director General of the Botto Giuseppe & Figli