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When Marco Kinloch sits down to draw, he gets lost in his world of colors and designs, and blocks everything out. Half-Scottish, half-Italian Marco grew up around the Veneto region, and has loved drawing since he was a child, which he has now adapted to stunning watercolor paintings that are translated onto fabrics for clothing and home decor, and wallpaper. Together with his wife Antea Brugnoni Aliata, he founded Roi du Lac, a Rome-based clothing and homewares brand which you might never find in the Eternal City if you were looking for it. I stumbled across Roi du Lac by chance, walking through a side piazza near Piazza Navona.
Launched in 2016, Roi du Lac reproduces Marco’s drawings into prints for silk dresses, blazers, men’s shirts, and homewares. Now, they’ve gone global, and Marco can boil their formula for successful prints down to three key ingredients: colors, heritage, and story. The colors and images need to make sense somehow, so when the duo are choosing a destination for inspiration, Japan or Mexico for example, they choose a subject within that destination, trying to connect the dots between sites, flowers and animals to make the piece easy to wear.
Heritage is a crucial facet of the Roi du Lac identity. While most of their pieces are handcrafted and manufactured in Italy, the dup have not been afraid to translate prints using different methods from around the world such as embroideries, jacquards, and even a traditional Greek style on a native fabric to name a few.
IN THE EPISODE
[00:57] The Story of Roi Du Lac
[08:48] The Making of the Prints
[18:18] Launching Roi du Lac
[21:16] Challenges
[27:20] Inspirations
[31:33] Why Rome
[42:26] Kinloch’s Go-To spots in Rome
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