Nothing should be made by man's labor which is not worth making,
or which must be made by labor degrading to the maker.

- William Morris

About D’Ascoli

Driven by insatiable curiosity, New York designer Peter D’Ascoli has travelled the world studying decorative arts for decades. Formally trained in Textile Design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan, his early work with handcrafted textiles for the Indian government engendered an enduring love of the art and culture of this ancient civilization. This experience with craft has been augmented by years of work with major fashion brands in the U.S. and with industrial factories around the world.

In 2006, D’Ascoli founded the Talianna Studio in New Delhi: a design and product development atelier, creating luxury fabrics for interior decoration. In 2012, Cecile D’Ascoli began developing a garment collection at the studio. Her approach was based on the types of clothing she herself would want to wear – easy-going dresses and tops with a casual, bohemian vibe. The initial concept, crafted of plain Indian handlooms, was elevated to a new level of creativity when the company installed in-house printing. The results showcase the unique aesthetic and technical expertise of the firm, and its truly original vision. The company now produces contemporary fashion and home products under the D’Ascoli label, and custom fabrics for the interior design trade under the Peter D’Ascoli brand in a vertically integrated factory creating original designs and making them in-house using ancient and modern techniques with small-batch, sustainable methods.

CREATION

Original artwork is at the heart of what we do at the Talianna Studio. Using traditional materials and CAD we study nature and the history of ornament, working with graphics and the many variations of color to create our product designs.

PRINTING
At the Talianna Studio we are expert in all types of printing, and we use state-of-the-art digital printing as well as hand-block and screen printing to create our sustainable fashion. Digitally Printed textiles virtually eliminate the consumption of water and the discharge of noxious effluents, and is a much more sustainable alternative to analog processes.
EMBROIDERY

The Talianna Studio is focused on hand embroidery made in-house by our team of master craftspeople. While we sometimes utilize computer or semi-mechanized embroidery techniques, it is the ancient form of hand embroidery that we endeavor to preserve and revive as we embellish our garments and home furnishings.

WEAVING

Handmade textiles can still be found in large-scale production in India - set in a rural, almost pre-industrial context. The Indian handloom industry remains the largest in the world, with over 4.3 million people involved in the production; the handloom industry is India’s second-largest employment provider for the rural population after agriculture. This remarkable fact represents an opportunity for India and the world to embrace this sustainable, low carbon, eco-friendly alternative to one of the planet’s most polluting industries. D’Ascoli is mindful of this valuable resource and much of our work involves hand spun, cotton grown on small family farms and hand woven in villages across India.

As seen on