In March 1971, on the occasion of a particular winter fashion show in the mountain town of Cortina, Rosita Missoni creates an after-ski collection of 8 outfits commissioning to Ottavio some patchwork compositions, technique which at the time they were experimenting assembling small leftovers  from the cutting of knitwear production, creating new fabrics with beautiful kaleidoscopic compositions.

For the Missonis it’s the beginning of an historical experimentation.

The show was a great success and the Missoni patchworks became soon very popular also among the customers both male and female up to become one of the brand’s icons.

From this event on, Ottavio started his own personal artistic research that brought him in Fall 1981 to his first solo exhibition of Tapestries at ‘Al Naviglio’ Art Gallery in Milan.