As a young girl, Mariantonia Urru learned to weave from her mother. At that time, textiles were almost exclusively woven by hand for personal use, and Mariantonia worked for the next few years on completing the linens she would use in the future for her trousseau. Eventually she transformed her skill into a business, purchasing a loom and working from the small mountain town where she was born and raised.
Today Mariantonia Urru is a full-fledged business that works with international architects, luxury hotels and prestigious boutiques throughout Europe, the United States and Australia. However its heart remains local.
The company is still based in Samugheo and is completely family-run. The production process is concentrated locally, from the initial technical planning to the purchase of wool from the town’s shepherds, to the hand-refinishing of each piece. The company has invested heavily in high-end production capabilities with a large range of looms (from older, wooden framed manual looms to top of the line jacquard looms) and accompanying each new employee during a two year training period. They pair their cross-generational knowledge of the craft of weaving with a desire to find new applications for their textiles, for example producing cloth-covered, architectural acoustic panels for interiors.