Lanificio Luigi Ricceri

UNIT9 worked closely with Lanificio Luigi Ricceri to create an immersive interactive brand lookbook available on tablet and mobile.The beautiful HTML5 site takes you on a journey of texture and color, giving you a chance to explore in details the diversity of wool fabrics in the Ricceri factory.

We took the role of storytellers, sharing the rich history of The Lanificio Luigi Ricceri wool factory in a beautiful and memorable way, merging video and interactivity in a mobile friendly website.

Family-run, the Ricceri brand stands for creativity and innovation in the world of fashion. Founded back in 1925 by Luigi Ricceri in Bologna, Italy, the factory has been reinventing the ways to work with wool, producing high quality fabrics in exquisite palette of colours and textures. Two generations later, Francesco and Luigi, founder’s grandson, continue to deliver new and innovative fabrics.

To reflect Ricceri’s innovative nature we built a website with unusual and striking navigation that takes you on journey through the Ricceri factory. Since the client wanted users to be able to access and interact with the experience anywhere, we optimised the site for tablets and mobile using HTML5 and latest tablets technology such as gyroscope for a exceptional navigation.

At any point you can interact with the fabrics, by dragging, tilting, zooming in & out, or clicking on any of the hotspots for more information.

“The hotspot navigation was a very fun one to build, it is all written in native canvas.” explains Dominico Gemoli, Lead Developer. “Every time the mouse moves while being pressed down on the rhombus I redraw the canvas with the updated position of the rhombus, and a lot of math is used to decide which is the nearest hotspot and then draw the connecting lines”

Showcasing the fabrics in their entirety on screen was the biggest challenge for the team – we wanted to empower the users to explore the feel, texture, and nuances of the different fabrics.

In order to make this possible, Creative Director Francesco Bernabei and his team filmed each fabric and then custom build different navigation tools for HTML5 to give users the ability to explore the videos, playing with the fabrics as if they are holding them in hand.

For example, through the tilt effect you can see the different nuances of the colours in each fabric and once you start tilting the fabric in different directions you can even see the light illuminating and bouncing of the textile.

Dominico shares how he made this mesmerising effect possible:“I considered the “inclination” in any moment as an angle in a certain direction, once the angle of the inclination has been established we were able show the correct photo that represents the light in that direction.”

To achieve such an effect, the team filmed the fabrics with a camera rig that allowed the light to revolve around the still material. This way instead of the textile moving around on screen causing unpleasant effect, it is the lighting that changes as you tilt your iPad/ moving you cursor causing quite a realistic effect.

You also have the option to explore the fabrics in the smallest details thanks to the bespoke photo zoom effect we created.

Immerse yourself in the world of luxurious fabrics. Follow us to Italy and explore the textures, colors and feel of the Ricceri textile through your smartphone, tablet or desktop.