11 minute read
Interview with Sole Ferragamo
SOLE FERRAGAMO
THE JEWELLERY DESIGNER BLAZING HER OWN CREATIVE PATH AND SPARKING JOY WITH HER JEWELS
When you first meet jewellery designer Mariasole Ferragamo, you instinctively want to reach out and touch her striking three-dimensional earrings.
What look to be rigid creations are, in fact, hoops that have been crafted with upcycled high quality Italian leather offcuts and given a sophisticated silver metallic finish. Despite appearances, they are paper-light and so pliable, you can squeeze them between your fingers and they bounce back into shape.
The sense of surprise provoked by the difference between how the earrings look and how they feel is exactly the reaction the talented Sole (as she is known) seeks. “When you look at my pieces you might think they are made of metal, so you would expect them to be heavy, cold and perhaps uncomfortable, but then when you touch them, you discover their true nature – which is soft, warm, extra light and comfortable,” she smiles delightedly. “Despite the provocative aspect, there is the element of surprise, which is a good feeling to have, and then there is another aspect, which is going beyond the surface of what you see and asking questions.
The granddaughter of Italian footwear legend Salvatore Ferragamo, Sole, 32, clearly possesses the family’s artistic gene but is very much carving her own creative path. As the founder of SO-LE Studio, she is on a mission to turn discarded materials such as leather offcuts and brass shavings into beautifully constructed pieces of jewellery, ranging from chunky cuffs and sculptural necklaces to glow-in-the-dark earrings and delicate brass rings.
The pieces are unique in that they vary in terms of shape and colour, and even size – as Sole demonstrates when she shows me a pair of colourful Trucioli ‘Doodle Lollipop’ earrings, made from brass shavings (the word trucioli means “shavings” in Italian), coated in gold and daubed with bright enamel pigments –hence the ‘glow’ effect. As well as being hand-painted, the squiggle-like earrings differ slightly in size, which curiously adds to their appeal. What also appeals is the surprisingly affordable pricing for such luxurious looking designs with prices starting at around 150 euros.
The Milan-based designer is in London for the exclusive launch of her collection at Browns Fashion and is as charming as she is modest; her enthusiasm infectious as she relates her circuitous journey to fulfilling her passion for jewellery design.
It all began on her ninth birthday when her mother gave her a small red box containing copper wire, tweezers and beads and taught her a simple technique of making bracelets. “Basically, I fell in love with the whole process,” recalls Sole, who grew up in Florence, where the Ferragamo factory is based, with her parents and three younger siblings. “It was something that made me so happy. I could choose whether to start or stop - and they said [her family] that I started and I never stopped! Since I was ten, I was making jewellery all winter long and then selling it at the seaside to friends or people on the beach or street. I was making little bee or angel necklaces and earrings using glass beads and wire. The elements of playfulness and joy were already there.”
However, it wasn’t a straight-forward trajectory by any means. “My family would tell me, ‘Yes, jewellery is your hobby’, [but] it wasn’t considered a profession, so I had to pass through the more institutional path of architecture,” she says equably. “That happened, I think, because I wasn’t brave enough to go into something so specific [as jewellery] from the beginning.”
Even though architecture was more of a diversion, this self-confessed perfectionist threw herself into her three-year degree course at the Instituto Politecnico di Milano and is now grateful for the experience.
“I am extremely grateful because it set a very important foundation for the work I am doing now,” she says. “It gave me a process; it gave me a mindset and it influenced my aesthetic for sure, as well. Although when I was studying architecture I knew it wasn’t my thing.
I even tried - I interned in different architecture firms. I went to Madrid during my Erasmus and worked in a studio. But two things: the scale of the buildings felt too distant for me - I am a craftsperson, I work with my hands all the time, so I needed to hold in my hands what I was making - and the other thing, what I loved the most was making models. I would use the technique I use in jewellery to make the building model. It was quite evident.”
So, trusting her instincts, Sole took a year off to intern at both the Ferragamo factory in Florence and at another jewellery and accessories factory to “deep dive” into the manufacturing processes and techniques for leather and jewellery. “They had to come and call me for lunch because I would forget about eating because I was loving it so much,” she laughs. “The first day I remember I had to cut maybe a thousand chains of all different lengths for a Chanel necklace and then assemble it, but I was the happiest person ever. I learnt how to make wax models and do enamelling. I also saw brass shavings there [at the jewellery factory] for the first time –maybe I wasn’t aware, but it triggered something.” Presumably, she could have gone into the family business (her father Leonardo is non-executive president) after finishing her internship? “You need to deserve everything in our family so it wouldn’t have been like a straight forward option in any case,” she insists. “Having said so, my family has informed my passion and my sensitivities towards products, craftsmanship, quality and materials in an incredible way because I grew up in an environment where all of these aspects were super important, as well as the value of hard work.”
Instead, Sole applied to the prestigious Central St Martins College of Art and Design in London to do a two-year MA in jewellery design in 2014. “I’d known about it [St Martins] for years and it was a dream place to be,” she says. “But the real reason was that it was the only university with a Master’s programme with jewellery by project. It really set the foundation for what is now SO-LE Studio.” The course reinforced her determination to work sustainably with leftovers. On winning her first award, ‘Craft of Leather’, at the fourth International Design Competition in Italy in 2015, she said rather prophetically: “As a designer, I am aware that we just don’t need any more stuff. We need good stuff, which has a meaning behind [it], that respects the environment, the people that have been working to make it.”
Sole first discovered the potential for crafting jewellery from offcuts while working at the family factory during the summer holidays around the age of 11. “It’s a family tradition,” she explains of her early immersion into Ferragamo craftsmanship. “I was in the material department at the time, and I had these small pieces of leather samples, so I would start cutting them and making earrings. I felt that I wanted to protect it and give life back to this material that came from an animal and had been through the process of tanning. Also, I find it very stimulating from a creative point of view; the fact that there is a limit to the quantity. I thought that was really a stimulus, and I felt a responsibility because if you have a creative mind, you can look at things from a different perspective, which allows ideas to blossom.”
What also propelled her was her own stubborn streak: “When I started working with leather everybody was telling me, ‘No, you must use metal. If you only use leather you will never be commercial enough.’ So, I responded to these comments in a provocative way, using leather as the protagonist of the piece but making it look at first sight as if it is metal.” She draws inspiration from architecture, kinetic and optical art, and fashion. Geometric shapes of all kinds intrigue her – from window grids and drain covers to spiderwebs and plants. She is particularly fascinated by costumes of the Elizabethan era, and the sense of beauty, strength and protection they afforded the women who wore them. Her leather cuffs, for instance, are reminiscent of protective shields or armour, but instead of being cold and hard, are soft and extremely comfortable to wear.
Her pieces are also designed to spark joy in the wearer. “I believe with jewellery you establish an intimate relationship and there are objects you often buy with your heart or someone gifts to you and you wear them with a sort of consciousness of the role they have in your life,” she muses. “Especially nowadays I feel we are lacking joy, and giving joy through a piece of jewellery, it’s easy to access. On my side, it gives an extra purpose to what I am doing: there is the element of surprise; of engagement because most pieces can be worn in different ways.” Since launching SO-LE Studio in 2017, Sole’s creations have been exhibited through the Elisabetta Cipriani Gallery at Art Basel, MiArt and PAD London, and included in the Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan and Museo Salvatore Ferragamo in Florence. The brand’s creative HQ is in Milan, while production remains in Florence. As creative director, Sole is careful to limit the number of pieces she produces. “It’s not based on trends – I don’t really call it a new collection, it is always an evolution,” she explains. “We are always trying to evolve in a very organic way. Each piece is not meant to last for a season, it is meant to potentially last forever.” The designer’s visit to London is her first in three years and her first time away from her baby daughter Anna with her lawyer husband Davide, which she admits has been “tough”. She has fond memories of living in London: “I always say when I came to London I felt as if I was made in a million pieces and I had to reconfigure them in a way that was true to the real Sole,” says this deep soul. “At the beginning I wanted to try everything and meet everybody and see everything but then I realised it wasn’t possible, so I started asking myself, what is true to me? That is what I take most of the experience in London as well as the incredible creative energy. I never felt judged here, whereas in Italy, especially in Florence, it was different.” Growing up, did she feel the burden - as well as the benefits - of being part of a famous family?
“Yes, for sure, the proudness and the whole benefits are super of having this name, but sometimes the burden is that some things are taken for granted by people,” she reflects. “Often I get told, ‘Ah yes, of course, easy for you.’ [But] you have to work harder. Because of my personality and way of being, I thought I had to work even harder to prove that I would deserve anything I would achieve.”
Could she see herself collaborating with the Ferragamo brand? “Maybe one day, yes. In general, my idea is to collaborate with brands that I want to create capsule collections with, using their own leftovers, so why not doing it also for Ferragamo. It would be beautiful but let’s see.” And do her parents still consider her passion for jewellery-making a hobby? “Not anymore, but it took a while,” she laughs.
www.so-le-studio.com www.brownsfashion.com
