‘Merlettilace’: More than a giant doily

IT’S SO MUCH MORE THAN A GIANT DOILY

Italian designer and SCI-Arc professor Elena Manferdini recently traveled to the Venetian island of Burano to study the centuries-old, exquisitely intricate style of its lace-makers. The result? An epic canopy of carefully cut plastic panels casting dynamic shadows called “MERLETTI LACE” is hanging in the school’s gallery, part of Manferdini’s larger project on the connections between fashion and architecture. Venetian lace provided a natural inspiration, because its designers long meshed textile designs with blueprints – its long stitches echoing canal bridges; its patterns woven into building façades. “They were reproducing the intricacy of the city in fabric,” Manferdini says. On Friday, she and architect Eric Owen Moss will discuss the work. Discussion, 7 p.m. Fri. SCI-Arc Gallery, downtown L.A. Ends May 11. www.sciarc.edu