Antonio Marras tells us about his Sardinia and his special relationship with Maria Lai

The designer discusses his personal and artistic relationship with the Sardinian artist, their creative dialogue between fashion and contemporary art, and the profound influence of his Sardinian roots on his career

A special meeting with Antonio Marras, who retraces his bond with Maria Lai, highlighting how their shared Sardinian roots fostered a profound human and artistic connection. This connection influenced his career, pushing him to expand his research beyond fashion.

You knew Maria Lai well; what do you love about this artist? Did your relationship with Maria influence your decision to become an artist beyond fashion?

The first time I heard about Maria Lai was in Rome. I was captivated, and dedicated my first haute couture collection to her in 1996. Our profound relationship changed my life, and not just my artistic one: it opened up a new world to me, gave me confidence, and taught me to see beyond.

Antonio Marras and Maria Lai, 2003 Archivio Daniela Zedda ©Riccardo Spignesi

And on a human level, can you tell us something about her?

Maria often stayed at our house, in the small annex, a former chicken coop, since then known as “Maria Lai’s little house.” She gave me the keys to a secret room. She opened up a world to me that I never thought existed. She gave me faith in my work, wanted to work on shared projects, and gave us Thoughts and Words, the artwork she created on the concrete wall of our house. I owe her my mental and physical health and my imagination. Since she’s been gone, I struggle to talk about her without feeling sad. I miss her so much. Maria was a tiny little Jana, the Sardinian fairy weaver, revolutionary, powerful, authoritative, generous, determined, and sharp. She was truly passionate. Maria is our Louise Bourgeois, and only now, after her death, is the world realizing it.

Tell us about your first project together in Sardinia, Llencols de aigua (Sheets of Water)?

An installation created over twenty years ago in Alghero, on the rocks along the promenade. Seeing it again earlier this year at Magazzino Italian Art in New York, bathed in American light, was deeply moving. A tribute to Matisse’s “The Dance”, but also an almost more intimate version, accessible from the inside, with all the dangling threads, the ones Maria loved.

An exhibition brings you together again, virtually...

It’s titled Paso Doble and is on display at M77 Gallery in Milan. Like the traditional Spanish pas de deux, each work traces the rhythm of a movement that is both balance and counterpoint, in a play of isolation and references that unfolds throughout the gallery spaces. Maria Lai draws, paints, sculpts, assembles threads, fabric, books, poetry, and, above all, concepts, while in my works I have experimented with many types of language, including drawings, collages, ceramics, and more.

What do you love about Sardinia?

It’s a genetic imprint. Silence, landscape, melancholy, an engraved mark. An island that seems at the centre of everything and yet so distant. My roots have never been a boundary, but a secret language, an intimate alphabet with which I continue to read and describe the world.