Alessandra Branca Debuts Bedding for Sferra
Alessandra Branca is on a mission: to educate consumers through seduction. “When you pick up a 19th-century textile, it’s so completely different than what most people today are used to,” the effervescent Rome-born, Chicago-based interior decorator says, going on to wax eloquently about antique linens that were handmade for dining and for dozing—the richness of the fibers, the weight, the softness, and the craftsmanship, from the fine weave to the expert embroidery. “Good quality lasts forever,” she says.
Bed linens are a particular passion. So say hello to Casa Branca for Sferra, a capsule collection of embroidered cotton-percale sheets, duvet covers, pillows, and more that Branca recently created with the 127-year-old Italian luxury-goods company. She calls the four styles “playful but classical and not goopy.”
The wide embroidered trim of Intreccio (Italian for "basket weave") takes its inspiration from traditional Nantucket and Japanese baskets, two of the artisan-crazy Branca’s passions. Corona, which is made to order, has hand-cut scalloped edges inspired by 19th-century pelmets. Prices range from $175 for an Intreccio standard pillow sham to $3,595 for a Corona queen-size duvet cover, both in white with natural-tone (think straw-yellow) embroidery, and offered at Sferra locations nationwide. Two other designs will be sold exclusively at Neiman Marcus online (Labirinto, in blue) and Bloomingdale’s in New York City (Anello, in gold). All four designs, plus Corona table linens, can be ordered through Branca’s website, where they can be purchased in a rainbow of stock and custom colors.
“If you’re trying to decorate your place without a lot of money, a great set of sheets is a good place to start,” the designer explains. “I grew up with really good linens, and they’re one of the few things that you can buy that will immediately affect your lifestyle.”
Next up? “I want to do a series, a salon, if you will, where people can come together and talk about fashion, music, and art. And to start a studio series in Chicago, where people can learn to marbleize or embroider or bookbind, crafts you don’t want to die out,” Branca explains. “Quality is something that we have a responsibility to keep alive. But to keep it from dying out, you have to understand it and fall in love with it.”
