Renata Bonfanti (1929-2018) studied in Venice and Oslo in the early 1950s. She was primarily a weaver, interested in technical innovation, developing mechanical processes to produce upholstery fabrics and introducing artificial fibres to contrast with natural ones. In 1970 she established a laboratory-studio in which develop techniques using both hand looms and mechanical looms, where the looms could be used not just for production, but also as tools in the design process itself. She saw her textiles and carpets as architectural elements, intervening in an interior space with chromatic sequences and finely calibrated haptic surfaces. Bonfanti collaborated with designers including Bruno Munari, for whom she developed textiles for a series of lamps.