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ABOUT
MURMELLS · COAT ATELIER
A house
devoted to
the coat.
Restrained,
deliberately
narrow in scope.
We work with cloth from the historic mills of Biella, in limited runs made one piece at a time. No seasons, no collections. Coats chosen slowly and worn for years.
The material decides.
Form comes after.
ATELIER · EXTREMADURA, ESPAÑA
PILAR CORTÉS
01
The Pieces
02
The Cloth
03
The Origin
04
The Craft
05
The Name
06
Pilar Cortés
01
THE FIBRES
The gift
of nature.
Some fibres speak
for themselves
Camel hair, cashmere and alpaca. They need no artifice, only context. They are hard to imitate and easy to recognise at first touch. They insulate, breathe, endure and improve with time. Their worth lies in their origin, in their quality, and in the relationship they form with the body.
FIBRE · Nº 01
Camel Hair
Body and dry warmth.
FIBRE · Nº 02
Cashmere
Lightness and softness.
FIBRE · Nº 03
Alpaca
A thermal softness all its own.
02
THE CLOTH
The cloth
comes first.
At Murmells, the cloth does
not accompany the garment.
It defines it.
It is the first decision, and the most important. We do not impose an idea upon the material. We watch what each cloth asks for and work from there. Cashmere calls for lightness. Camel hair, for body. Alpaca, for a thermal softness quite its own.
ASKS FOR
Body
Camel Hair
CALLS FOR
Lightness
Cashmere
OFFERS
Dry warmth
Alpaca, its thermal softness.
Design matters, of course.
But afterwards.
03
THE ORIGIN
Biella
For a noble fibre to reach its true potential, it needs expert hands. Most of Murmells's cloth comes from the historic mills of Biella, in the Italian Piedmont — one of the great textile traditions of Europe. There the cloth is still handled with knowledge, precision and respect for the material.
04
THE CRAFT
A way of
making.
Murmells does not keep
pace with trends. It works to
a different measure of time.
No seasons.
No collections.
Each coat is made in Spain, in limited runs and with close attention to construction, finish and proportion. Not out of romanticism, but because certain garments only make sense once they are made.
A noble material asks the same of everything else: precision, craft and time — and the capacity to wear the years well, and to improve with use.
MAKING
Spain
By hand · Double-faced technique.
RUNS
Limited
Cut from the bolt, to order. No stock held.
CALENDAR
No seasons
Off the seasonal rhythm. Ready to wear.
OVER TIME
Improves
It does not lose character. It gains it.
05
THE NAME
murmeln — From German: to murmur, to speak in a low voice.
It came about as the
right names sometimes
do: by sound before explanation.
Later came its nearness to murmell, which in German suggests a low voice, a murmur. We liked that it fit our way of understanding a garment.
We have no interest in stridency. We are drawn to pieces that hold themselves up by their material, their construction and their presence.
06
WHO IS BEHIND IT
Pilar Cortés.
Her path does not answer to a conventional idea of fashion — and perhaps that is why Murmells does not either.
Interior design taught her to read a space. Photography and styling, to read light and form. By the time she came to the coat, she already knew how to look.
That way of looking reached garment-making in time. A direct practice, made of gestures: to observe, to intervene, to try, to correct, to learn. There were years of teaching herself. Then a way of working alongside seamstresses of the trade, who hold the knowledge of the workshop.
Today, that way of learning defines Murmells. A house where the coat is worked with attention, judgement and respect for the material.
It is not about doing much. It is about doing well what is necessary.
LIST SUBSCRIPTION · THE JOURNAL
Letters written from the atelier, notices of new pieces in the catalogue, and word of upcoming Trunk Shows or events. One letter every few weeks. Nothing more.