Antik Batik
Posted 12/12/2010 December 2010
Travel is a long-term passion of Gabriella Cortese. Italian by birth
and Parisian by adoption, she has covered all five continents throughout
her travels.
Born in Turin, she was well behaved and academic as a child. As an
early sign of her future career, her Hungarian grandmother taught her
the art of embroidery and dressmaking. As an arts student, she arrived
in Paris aged 18 to learn French and found herself a job as a dancer at
the Crazy Horse (world-famous Parisian cabaret)
Travel is a long-term passion of Gabriella Cortese. Italian by birth and Parisian by adoption, she has covered all five continents throughout her travels.
Born in Turin, she was well behaved and academic as a child. As an early sign of her future career, her Hungarian grandmother taught her the art of embroidery and dressmaking. As an arts student, she arrived in Paris aged 18 to learn French and found herself a job as a dancer at the Crazy Horse (world-famous Parisian cabaret)
After a crazy year, where she lived Paris by night, Gabriella traveled the four corners of the globe then decided to settle for some time in Indonesia. Whilst in Bali, Gabriella discovered Batik, the ancient craft of printing onto fabric. Inspired, she took on this skill designing prints and matching colors with a variety of styles, which she marketed on her return to France in 1992, where Antik Batik’s foundations were laid.
A self-taught wanderer, Gabriella continued her world tour her mind filled with a variety of influences, colors and designs. In particularly, her journey to India touched and dazzled her. The Indian people possess a wealth of ancient skills: the art of dying by hand and embroidery, and Gabriella had but one wish, to work with them. Here, Gabriella discovered the opportunity to develop her prêt-a-porter collection.
Since 2001, Gabriella granted the wish of little girls to dress like their mothers, with an Antik Batik children’s range. Today, much more than a fashion label, Antik Batik is an emblem of the French “Bourgeois- Boheme” lifestyle.