When Francesco Risso met artists Olaolu Slawn and Soldier Boyfriend that grey February day, their conversation immediately transcended pleasantries—three creative spirits recognizing kindred energy across disciplines. Hours dissolved as they explored shared obsessions: the tactile poetry of materials, the political potential of color, the way art might infiltrate daily life. This initial communion led to an unprecedented month-long artist residency, where Risso, Slawn, and Soldier Boyfriend inhabited a converted London studio together, their practices bleeding into one another.

Painting techniques informed textile treatments, printmaking processes reimagined garment construction, fashion's structural logic challenged fine art's conventions. The walls became laboratories; sketches migrated from paper to fabric to canvas and back again. This intensive creative symbiosis forms the conceptual DNA of Marni's Fall/Winter 2025 collection—not merely collaboration, but genuine artistic fusion born from mutual recognition and sustained creative intimacy.