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The family first moved to Palazzo Martinego where the cultural and artistic activity of Mariano took on considerable importance. His passion for lighting led him to create his famous “Coupole Fortuny”.
This white quarter sphere inspired by the celestial vault could become a screen for projections. He also made unusual lamps capable of producing scenic lights without causing shadows.
His meeting with the young model, Henriette Nigrin in Paris led him to become passionate about the creation of fabrics. Their reciprocal passion is made of a total complicity, a love story and a creative union which will thus last until the death of Mariano in 1949.
The couple set up their first workshop for printing fabrics and silk shawls in the Palazzo Pesaro degli Orfei. Their famous Delphos dress was born from their dis- covery of pleating during a trip to Greece.
Their creations were the symbol of this liberating fluidity of the rigidity of the corsets and the women of the high society of the time adopted them following Isadora Duncan, Sarah Bernhard and Eleonora Duse.
On his death, the Palazzo Pesaro degli Orfei was bequeathed by his wife to the city of Venice to be dedicated to culture.