Life imitates art in the Tuscan hills

Jade Conroy enjoys her own renaissance at a hotel that doubles up as a residency for creatives

My art career began and ended by the time I left primary school. Although I won a few painting competitions in my early years, as I reached the more advanced year five art classes, my artistic flair had dwindled and my mum hung a Monetinspired ceramic tile I made in pride of place… in our garage.

I was understandably a little hesitant, then, when I signed up for a fabric workshop at Villa Lena, a hotel and art foundation in the hills near Florence. Not only was I close to the cradle of the Renaissance, the course was being run by Nadine Goepfert, an internationally exhibited textile designer from Berlin. As I approached the class on the first day, the sight of small children allayed my fears. We were there to design collectively a tablecloth, and make our own table mats, by imprinting pieces of wood, marble and leaves, coloured by pastel paints, on to the cotton.

Goepfert’s designs focus on mealtime rituals: beautifully embroidered bibs, macramé coasters and futuristic-looking tablecloths. She, along with nine other artists, was at the hotel on a month-long residency.

Alongside its residency programme, Villa Lena also hosts guests and weddings from April to October, and runs a biodynamic farm, which produces wine and olive oil. “I wouldn’t be working on a Sunday in Berlin, that’s for sure – I’m so much more productive here,” Goepfert told me as she showed me around her studio the day after our class. She was happy with the end result: a colourful, if manic, tablecloth which, along with our mats (mine inspired by a bowl I bought on a trip to Puglia), were hung up to dry alongside her own work.

During her month-long residency at Villa Lena, she will design a new tablecloth that she’ll leave behind in the hotel’s restaurant, while also working on a collection of garments. Alongside Goepfert, the motley crew of artists when I visited a few weeks ago included a renowned American fashion photographer and a French/ American illustrator couple who were