Meet the designer and learn more about her personal design process from her point of view.
To design is a personal journey
When I think about a new product I start a personal journey in the pursuit of Beauty in the perfect balance of aesthetic proportions and the best sensory experience to offer to the viewer. I try to create something that is capable of arousing emotions through the senses of sight, touch and smell, but also of reawakening a memory, a remembrance of the past of something already experienced, a nostalgia for a bygone time that takes the form of feeling of belonging. In fact, the artists and designers of the past are my primary source of inspiration.
Heritage as a reassuring starting point. I like to reinterpret something that already existed and transform it into a completely revolutionized product made contemporary and youthful through unique details.
All first begins with research
It is thought that a designer’s job is to draw all day. In reality, there are many aspects to take care of and each is part of the same gear. The creation phase first begins with research, during which I spend most of my time visiting fairs of the sector and art and photography exhibitions, listening to music and watching great cinema, observing glimpses of the city and the beauty of nature, finally to read anything like novels, art, architecture and cinema books, magazines and fashion, design and art websites. I analyze all the information in order to identify market trends, based not only on current fashion brands, but also on changes in customs and society.
Subsequently, within the immense material collected, I identify some inspirational themes and finally I begin the creative part which inevitably passes from the phase, which in art is called “horror vacui”, which literally means “terror of the void”, or when one is faced with a blank sheet of paper looking for inspiration. This phase can last an indefinite time, until – very often just when we take a break taken by the discomfort of emptiness and insecurity – it comes like a flash of lightning that lasts the time of a flash, something that looks like a “mystical contact”. A personal experience and difficult to explain, an image processing by the brain following the continuous stimulation through images and reasoning, what I call “enchantment”.
In a second time I visualize in my head the whole collection that I run to put on paper with sketchy and quick drawings, trying as much as possible to fix with my hand those concepts, those lines and shapes of objects, which already exist in my head.
A product is the result of a teamwork
I then calmly proceed to identify each model and, depending on the design, to modeling with poor materials such as paper or expanded polystyrene. Then I continue with the fine-tuning, by hand and on a 1:1 scale, studying its feasibility and the details. I hang each sketch on the wall to have an overall view from afar and to check for any errors in proportion. Then I define the materials and colours, graphics, decorations and any other detail. Now is the time for computer representation to communicate with pattern makers and factories. Then 2D views with dimensions and datasheets with 3D drawing.
I try in every way to give the most precise and complete information as possible, although leaving room for the technicians’ personal interpretation. I am convinced that a product is the result of a teamwork, therefore the professionalism and competence of each one contributes to obtaining the best possible result.
Establishing a dialogue between us
I have always preferred accessories to clothes as I believe they represent the true personality of the wearer. Accessories have the power to overturn the style of the dress itself. They are more accessible than a suit of the same manufacturer and do not require a perfect physique to be able to wear them. When I design, I like to imagine the person wearing one of my accessories in her everyday life, both important moments or free time. I imagine her with a strong personality and eager to inspire others, with the desire to stand out and be admired. I imagine her choosing to wear one of my “creatures” because she feels that it belongs to her. A “dialogue” has been established between us and being able to reach out to people is actually what I aspire to. When this happens, I feel an indescribable emotion.
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