HAPPY EASTER

HAPPY EASTER

Designer, Rosita Missoni collects vases, and here is an appropriate egg shape, polka dotted pottery vase, made by the Italian company, Rometti. It’s a collector’s piece from the 1950’s. Rosita also likes to go for long walks and to pick flowers like these Yasminum Primulinum or Chinese Jasmine and the snow drops. She also picks anything edible on her way.

photograph by Rosita Missoni

A pottery vase from Rosita’s vast collection. It depicts springtime and Easter, at the same time. It was made by the Austrian pottery company Keramos.

HAPPY EASTER

Easter – how about? Buying a fine Florentine straw “Easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it…”, for the Easter Parade, in Venice from Valeria Bellinaso. This tiny boutique is one of my favorite. It is full of beautiful colorful accessories. Valeria still designs most of them from a base in Sicily. Whilst, Serena Vianello, the owner of the shop, takes care of selecting the best and most elegant accessories in Venice. The silk slipper shoes in the window are a variation on the classic velvet Furlane, which have soles made out of old bicycle tires. The rose silk scarf can also be worn as a necklace. You’ll also find a selection of jackets, bags and gloves in many bright and colorful colors.
Tradition: Put on your Easter bonnet on Sunday 8^th April, 2007 and go to, The Avenue, Fifth Avenue, for The Easter Parade. It's fun to just stroll around admiring the bonnets and costumed pets.

Valeria Bellinaso: Campo Sant'Aponal - San Polo 1226 - Venice - +39 041 5223351

More nice hot and cold colors for straw hats made in Florence. I love to wear hats and nearly always do. Whatever looks good on me is fine, whether it is a NY Yankees baseball cap, because I love NY, more than anything else, or a wide brimmed straw hat in summer. In winter, I always wear fur hats, because I find them very glamorous and warm.

Note: all the colors in this selection of fine leather and suede gloves.

Tradition: until a few decades ago it was not elegant to go out in town, in summer and in winter, without wearing a pair of gloves. Queen Elisabeth still adheres to this unspoken rule today. And, she also always wears hats.

HAPPY EASTER

Easter – how about? The best chocolate Easter eggs in Milan come from Cova. They are made with the finest natural and genuine raw materials following a process technologically linked to artisan’s tradition. They are made on the premises of this renowned coffee shop on the Via Montenapoleone, in the Golden Rectangle of Milan. It is the trendy meeting place for the Milanese and international fashionistas .When I’m in Milan I always stop by for the best espresso in town and always bump into somebody I know.
Easter egg history: Of all the symbols associated with Easter, the most identifiable is the egg, the symbol of fertility and new life. The first chocolate Easter eggs can be traced to France and Germany in the early 1800’s when an egg was hollowed out and filled with chocolate.

The Cova Colomba cake is the best in Milan. Made daily on the premises, it is always fresh and delicious. It is shaped in the form of a dove, symbol of peace, therefore, is an appropriate desert for the Easter season.
Legend: In the year 1100 the bakers of the city of Pavia were asked to make cakes in the shape of the dove to give to Emperor Fredrick I, known as Red Beard, as he was fond of hunting them. The emperor had ordered the capture of all the virgin girls of the city. Each girl brought a dove cake to the emperor, and declared that her name was Colomba. After tasting them all, he was full and satisfied and decided to free all the maidens.

HAPPY EASTER

Easter – why not? Start a hand-blown glass Easter egg collection by Murano’s legendary Master glassblower, Archimede Seguso? In the tradition of Faberge and inspired by the shape of a beautiful object, the late, Archimede Seguso, in 1982 started making, each year, a special limited edition of Easter eggs. None of Archimedes eggs are the same, the beautiful transparent eggs focus on an inner shape, color and design. They are truly works of art and collectors pieces.

HAPPY EASTER

EASTER – how about? A marzipan Easter lamb from the Pasticeria Fratelli Freni in Milan. Fourth generation, Carlo and Maria Freni run the Sicilian confectionery shop today. It is the first of its kind in northern Italy, selling typical hand made Sicilian sweets, mostly in marzipan in the shape of fruits. The windows, as you can see, are very photogenic and everyday foreign tourists gather in front to snap pictures. They made great souvenirs.
Tradition: The Easter lamb bearing a Resurrection Banner, in the Catholic Church represents Jesus Christ Resurrected, therefore in Italy it is a typical Easter symbol.

Contessanally’s Easter lunch: I always cook a New Zealand leg of lamb on Easter Sunday. I make small incisions with a knife and stuff them with slivers of garlic and rosemary, then I drizzle it in extra virgin olive oil and a little salt and cook it. However, when I was watching Jamie Oliver "The Naked Chef" on Television, recently, he added anchovies to the garlic slits and then spread olive paste over it and covered it completely with branches of rosemary. So I think I am going to try that this year. I also always include an egg dish to start with. Last Easter it was, boiled asparagus sprinkled with chopped hard boiled eggs and home-made mayonnaise. Naturally, desert always includes a Colomba, which is a dove shaped spongy type Italian Easter cake. I, usually serve this with strawberries and cream. Followed by, small chocolate Easter eggs stuffed with chocolate mousse and topped by a strawberry and a sprig of mint.

HAPPY EASTER

Easter – why not? Treat yourself with an Easter egg charm bracelet. Charm bracelets are coming back into fashion. This one designed by Milanese, Vitti Ferria Contin has faux Faberge enameled eggs, semi precious stones and charms on a gilded chain.

Vitti Ferria Contin – Via Boccaccio 21 – Milan – tel: +39 02 48012941 – open afternoons only.

History: The most important feast in the Russian Orthodox Church is Easter. The Faberge eggs began in 1884 with an Easter egg made for Czar Alexander III that became a gift for his wife the Czarina Maria. The egg reminded the Empress of her homeland, and so, it was agreed that Faberge would make an Easter egg each year for Maria.

HAPPY EASTER

Easter – why not? Save on calories and give one of these beautiful wooden eggs made by Venetian craftsman, Angelo Dalla Venezia. Dalla Venezia also makes spheres, balls, pyramids, cylinders, cubes, supports, as well as, spinning tops.

Dalla Venezia – Calle del Scalater – San Polo 2204 – Venice – tel: +39 041 721659

Virtual Easter eggs: are hidden messages or features in an object such as a film, a book, a CD or a DVD, a computer program or a video game. The term draws a parallel with the custom of the Easter egg hunt.

HAPPY EASTER

Easter – Why not? Have fun and wear a dangling pair of chicken and bead earrings designed by Franca Goppion for Fragolab for the Easter Monday egg hunt or egg roll?

Tradition: Since 1878 at the White House there has been an annual Easter Egg Roll competition. Started by President Rutherford B. Hayes, it is the largest public event and caters to children aged six and under.

HAPPY EASTER

Spring – why not? Take a walk with the dogs and pick bunches of forget-me-nots and Euphoria. The name Forget-me-not was borrowed from old French “ne m’oubliez pas” and first used in the English language around 1532.

Legend: In medieval times a knight was walking along the side of a river with his lady love. He picked a posy of flowers, but because of the weight of his armor, he fell into the river. As he was drowning he shouted to her “Forget me not.”

VENETO JEWELLERY DESIGNERS

photograph courtesy Carlo Piccolomini

Vicenza. Globetrotting designer, Carlo Piccolomini has always been exposed to beauty, not only in his travels around the world, but also while growing up in the family palaces between Roma and Siena or in the maternal Castle in Friuli. His love for jewels was transmitted to him by his aristocratic grandmother whose jewellery, especially the pieces by Cartier, inspired by India and the Maharajahs, he fell in love with. Each of Carlo’s jewels are classic, unique, precious and seductive, they transmit harmony and wellbeing to the touch. As you can see from the photographs of jewels from the Boteh collection, the paisley motif was inspired by antique Kashmir shawls.

photograph courtesy Carlo Piccolomini

Note: the Indian influence in this pair of earrings from the Boteh Collection. The enameled paisley motif is surrounded by sapphires and emerald cabochons.

MILANESE JEWELLERY DESIGNERS

photograph courtesy Viola Romani Adami

Milano. To those who know the family, it’s not a surprise that free-spirited Viola Romani Adami became a jewellery designer. Since she was very small she used to travel around the world, especially to New York, with her mother Giuliana, to buy jewels from the 1930s and the 1940s for her mother’s shop. After a course at jewellery school in Rome, where she learned all the techniques, Viola realized that she loved and was fascinated by stones. She uses a lot of stones and very little gold. Like the brooch featured above from the Firework collection; multi-colored semi precious stones and diamonds explode like fireworks. She makes all the prototypes herself by hand. Her style tends towards the baroque and naturally, she is inspired by the 1940s. You can contact her at: violaroad@yahoo.it

photograph courtesy Viola Romani Adami

Note: the garnet, rock crystal and diamond ring from the Mandala collection. It was inspired by a trip to India, Persia and the orient.

MILANESE JEWELLERY DESIGNERS

Milano. Osanna Visconti di Modrone grew up in Rome. Her elegant mother used to wear beautiful jewellery designed by artists like Pomodoro and Fontana. “I have fun making jewellery and I make pieces that are flattering, because usually jewels designed by artist are not.” She explains. After, a gemology course and an internship at Christie’s in New York, she married modern and contemporary art dealer, Gian Galeazzo Visconti di Modrone and lives in Milan in a beautifully decorated apartment above a charming courtyard in the old city. The attractive and stylish Contessa, designs for an eclectic woman interested in art, with style and an aesthetic sense. She has a predilection for 24K gold, because of its solar color and because of its softness which she cuts herself. See the three hoped earrings she is wearing in the photograph. You can find her jewellery at the Emporio Le Sirenuse in Positano on the Amalfi Coast or through her at osannavisconti@gmail.com.

Note: the necklace/belt in bronze made from a procedure using lost wax and quartz.

MILANESE JEWELLERY DESIGNERS

Milano. Giancarlo Montebello is a designer of body ornaments to the intelligentsia. I first met Giancarlo in the late 1960s at an art opening in Milan when I was a photographic stylist. At the time Giancarlo was producing jewels designed by artists, such as: Cesar, Sonia Delaunay, Lucio Fontana, Larry Rivers and Niki de Saint Phalle. I borrowed some for a photo shot with Oliviero Toscani, who was so happy with my choice of such beautiful objects, that I soon became his “in house stylist”. When I became a photographer and Giancarlo started to produce jewels or body ornaments as he prefers to call them, in the 1980s, I photographed his jewellery, inventing unusual techniques, lighting or compositions. We have had a lot of fun together. I am still “in love” with everything he designs, because I think we are on the same wave-length, though I am not as intellectual as he is. Giancarlo is inspired by everyday objects transforming them conceptually. His predilection for modules probably stems from his early training as an industrial designer, thus nurturing and augmenting his propensity for the invention of simple elements that can be constructed into myriad forms and functions by way of equally simple but highly versatile combinations. The chain mail bracelet above, from the Ornaments for Bradamante series, is his best seller, it is inspired by chain mail used in chivalric times as the garments of war, made in stainless steel mesh and gold with a snap button, it is a truly beautiful object.

Note: the module key chains. They were inspired by the chains worn by bikers in the 1960s. He has glamorized them, personalizing the chain design and by making them in stainless steel and 18K gold.

MILANESE JEWELLERY DESIGNERS

Milano. Hidden on the roof tops, in the Tortona area of Milan, among the ex factories, now used as fashion and design studios, through a charming, wild overgrown terrace you arrive into the world of Giorgio Vigna. Vigna’s studio is fascinating, one could spend the day just looking at his sculptures, his sculpture jewels, his hand-blown vases designed for Venini and Salviati, or his vast and unusual collection of ethnic aluminum-ware pieces. Though he is an artist, designer and lecturer, he likes to be called a researcher. His jewels are really wearable sculptures because he believes that sculptures should be touched and in scaling them down to wearable pieces, one is less intimidated to touch them. He explains “If sculpture is a jewel, you will immediately be attracted to it and will touch it even before wearing it. A child’s game which makes the existence of things perceivable by touch.” He has produced designs and costume jewellery for opera, films and television, directed by the likes of Pier Luigi Pizzi, Bernardo Bertolucci and Peter Greenaway. And, he has also designed special jewels for international fashion designers. Don’t miss his exhibition at the Design Museum in Helsinki in May.

Note: the bracelet sculpture, to be worn as an ornament. Vigna’s jewels reflect geological adventures of earth and water, fire and wind – a combination of the natural and artificial, common and precious, a daring meld of everyday experiences and audacious daydreams.

MILANESE JEWELLERY DESIGNERS

Milano. In 1980, fourth generation jewellers, Filippo and Marco Villa, inherited the family tradition adopting the same sensibility and style that has made Villa a very special traditional jeweller. I was particularly attracted to the cuff links in the window of their Via Manzoni store. Filippo designs these, refreshing their image with a playful touch of anti-conformism. “Cuff links, sophisticated baubles in the universe of men's fashion, are the only accessory that permits a man to express his personality, albeit sometimes with a pinch of irony.” Filippo explains. Custom-made cuff links can be made to order from photographs of you own, dog, horse or pet.

Note: a drawing for the latest cuff links, a pair of hourglasses filed with diamond dust which runs for one minute. These were inspired by a friend of Filippo’s who is the president of the Italian hourglass society. To view the complete cuff link collection of 1.400 pieces, log on to www.villa.it.

MILANESE JEWELLERY DESIGNERS

Milano. Vitti Ferria Contin has always been artistic and has always collected everything that caught her eye. While visiting a bead stall at the souk in Istanbul, a friend of hers suggested that she should makes jewellery. For fun, she took on the challenge and since then, hasn’t stopped making fun pieces with every type of material and object that she can find. She makes each piece herself; she is so prolific that her new showroom, which is entirely painted in silver, is already packed with the most eclectic pieces in every shape, style and size. Her aim is to help the less fortunate, since 2005, when she donated her bijoux to Airc, cancer research, at a charity benefit in Sardegna, she has never stopped supporting a worthy cause.
Vitti Ferria Contin: Via Boccaccio 21 – Milan – Tel: +39 02 48012941 – the showroom is open in the afternoons.

Note: this cascade of cultured pearls, little roses and gold metal leaves are Vitti’s best selling pair of earrings. They are very, very flattering to the face.

MILANESE JEWELLERY DESIGNERS

Milano. Nicknamed the “Iron Contessa”, Isabella del Bono designs mostly signet rings with engraved family coat of arms for the European nobility in iron. She is inspired by the grey heavy metal which goes back to the middle ages and evokes memories of knights in shinning armor. Her jewels are discreet and not flashy, they are very elegant, the simplicity and the dark color of the iron makes them understated chic status symbols for people in the know. This lively and eclectic woman is always on the go either covering a glamorous party in Gstaad, Cortina or Roma as a photo journalist for the gossips columns or in her role as jewelry designer for her custom-made coat of arms jewellery collection IdB.

Rings. Isabella is inspired by the middle ages and its knights. At that time, rings were made in iron and it was the first personal item on which to affix the family crest, more like a modern day business card. Isabella still makes them today in iron though she embellishes them with gold lining, precious or semi-precious stones and details like the faux galuchat surrounding the heart shaped aquamarine stone in the background.

Note: the simplicity and the understated elegance of these iron button inspired cuff links engraved with a Counts crown.

VENETO JEWELLERY DESIGNERS

photograph courtesy Monica Trevisi

Treviso. Born in South America, Monica Trevisi’s cosmopolitan spirit and insatiable interest in new cultures, as well as, her love for traveling are the inspiration behind her collections. Her fascination with machinery and with nuts and bolts dates back to when she was a child, when she would visit her industrialist father in his factory. Add these to the basic element of her jewels, industrial spring, plus the constant research into materials and styles that you arrive at the Monica Trevisi formula. Beautiful, precious hand-made ornaments that are sold all over the world.

photograph courtsey Monica Trevisi

Note: nuts and bolts and industrial spring are Monica’s obsession, you would think that she trained as an Industrial Designer, but no, she studied Oriental Languages in Venice.

VENETO JEWELLERY DESIGNERS

photograph courtesy Franca Goppion

Treviso. Franca Goppion's artistic background is in design, graphic design and as an editor for an interior design magazine. Combine this with her childhood passion for making things. It is not surprising therefore, that with her fresh and colorful fantasy, she now creates original and unusual bijoux, assembling poor and rich materials such as glass, plastic, fabric, yarn, pearls and many others. “I enjoy playing with anything I find.” She explains. “My husband jokes that my company, Fragolab is open 24/365, because I am always concocting something, whether manually or mentally.”

photograph courtesy Franca Goppion

Note: plastic tube and metal chains make a great combination for an unusual necklace.

VENETO - JEWELLERY DESIGNERS

Treviso. Globetrotting, Treviso based pop jewelry designer, Caterina Zangrando was discovered in Paris by none other than American Vogue’s, giant editor, Andre Leon Talley. He was amused by her pop bijoux. After a degree from Milan’s IULM University and a thesis on Valentino, for fun she started making jewelry. She has gone a long way since then and her bijoux can be found all over the world, from Tokyo to Hong Kong, Singapore to Sydney and New York to Milan. She has collaborated with Indian fashion designer, Mannish Arora (see Contessanally - archives - January 2006), the "John Galliano" of India, on his latest three collections; the latest due out this autumn was inspired by Arora’s embroidered fabrics. The skulls and crossbones collection, she is wearing in the photo above, were designed, by special request, for the Japanese market. Her pop jewels are refreshing and unique.

photograph courtesy Caterina Zangrando

Note: the Disney cartoon characters from Caterina’s first collection. Dolls, animals and playful, as well as, kitsch objects are often the centerpieces to necklaces strung haphazardly with random sized pearls, stones, hearts and gold and silver beads. She also the designs Cartoon Network's Powerpuff Girls, jewelry line.

VENETIAN JEWELLERY DESIGNERS and CRAFTSMEN

photograph courtesy Antonia Miletto

Venezia. Bi-continental jewelry designer, Antonia Miletto, in my mind, has the best of both worlds. She lives between Venice and a loft in New York City. Antonia is the leading jewelry designer in prized woods, which she combines with gold and precious and semi precious stones. “All woods are beautiful” she says. In, The wood Collection, which is made by specialized craftsmen in Milan, she favors; Purple Heart wood, which was used by the American Indians to make arrows, High Ironwood, because it’s very heavy, Canadian Maple because of it’s beautiful trans-lucid white color and Ebony, because black is always beautiful to wear. At the beginning of May she is opening her first shop in Venice on the Salizada Malipiero near Palazzo Grassi and in New York you can find her beautiful pieces at Demner on Madison Avenue and 64^th Street or at the numerous trunk shows she attends around the United States. I love this simple ebony and gold chain necklace and agree totally with Antonia “My jewelry can be worn all day, they are classic with something new.”

photograph courtesy Antonia Miletto

Note: the encased diamonds and gold in these black and white resin cuffs. Antonia was one of the first to use crystal metacrylic plastic resin, which can be tinted in many colors.

VENETIAN JEWELLERY DESIGNERS and CRAFTSMEN

Photograph courtesy Gualti

Venezia. Gualti’s small and exciting boutique just off Campo Santa Margherita is one of my favorite stores in the world. He creates incredible futuristic looking jewelry with surgical colored resins, as well as, stoles in pleated silk taffeta or in flannel on wires that bend to your fantasy. Gualti defines his creations as: POETIC IMPRESSIONS PRECIOUS HARMONIES - ORNAMENTS FOR THE BODY AND SOUL - ENCHANTED WORLDS - EXTENSIONS FOR THE BODY SCINTILLATING RARITIES - SPECTACULAR JEWEL SCULPTURES - ROOTS RISING UP FROM DEEP WITHIN

And, more definitions: SEEDS OF LIGHT - EXPRESSIONS OF INTENSE EMOTION - CREATURES FROM UNEXPLORED ABYSSES - JEWEL SCULPTURES - INTENSE EMOTIONS - SHOOTING STARS - FIREWORKS IN A SUMMER NIGHT SKY - LIGHT RECEPTORS - CRACKLING BURSTS OF LIGHT - HARMONIES OF LIGHT - TRANSPARENT CREATURES.

Custom hand-made silk satin evening shoes and clutch can be ordered from a choice of one hundred and twenty colors.

VENETIAN JEWELLERY DESIGNERS and CRAFTSMEN

Venezia. When you think about Venetian hand blown glass jewelry, you are not disappointed by Leslie Ann Genningers collection. It is very Venetian. For twenty years, since she was the first woman to enter the male dominated world of Murano, American designer, Genninger has been making beautiful eccentric glass jewelry, goblets and eternity lamps with Byzantine inspiration. Her shop, right on the Grand Canal, next to Ca Rezzonico, is a haven you would never want to leave.

Note: all the beads are especially designed and hand blown for her by a master glassmaker in Murano. Using thousand year old techniques some of the beads incorporate 24 k gold leaf and pure silver.

VENETIAN JEWELLERY DESIGNERS and CRAFTSMEN

Venezia.The Attombri brothers couldn’t have a better location than at the “feet” of the Rialto Bridge. Their boutique is situated next to the food market in the Sottoportigo degli Orafi or the goldsmiths arcade. Daniele, working in the photo, along with his brother Stefano have been designing objects and bijoux for the past eleven years. Their artistic creations are inspired by the neo-gothic palaces along the Grand Canal. The bold and unique jewels appeal to Italian pop and rock stars, like Antonella Ruggero, Mattia Bazar and Ornella Vanoni. They have also designed pieces for the collections of Romeo Gigli and Dolce e Gabbana. When in Venice, Julia Roberts likes to browse in the shop.

Precious antique Murano beads are tread through silver wire to create modern and original bijoux.

Contessanally tip: click on the photograph to view a bigger image.

VENETIAN JEWELLERY DESIGNERS and CRAFTSMEN

Venezia. Vergombello is a small and exclusive jewelry shop that caters mostly to the Venetians. It is very difficult to find, and is tucked away in a series of small calle and campielli. When you finally “stumble” across it, you hardly recognize it as the window is in fact the work table where Roberto Vergombello and his daughter, Marta work the precious stones to create beautiful jewelry inspired by Venetian antique pieces, like these moretti or blackamoor brooches.

Note: the secret hidden compartment a la Lucrezia Borgia in the back of the blackamoor pin. Also, note the screws, each piece is never glued but, cleverly held together by a series of screws. The workmanship is superb.

Vergombello: San Marco 1565/a - Ramo Secondo Corte Contarina - tel: +39 041 5237821

TXS to Italian GQ

Many thanks to Italian GQ's editor in Chief, Michele Lupi for reviewing Contessanally in the Business Card section of the March issue. Look out for it on page 45.