Upcycling is on the coronary heart of So-Le Studio founder Maria Sole Ferragamo’s design philosophy, utilizing by-products, specifically leather-based and brass offcuts, from Italian luxurious homes and producers, to create singular, architectural jewels (together with a brass necklace designed for Wallpaper*). This yr, having rediscovered her legendary shoe-designer grandfather’s ‘Enea’ sandal in a latest exhibition catalogue, she took to repurposing artistic inspiration, too.
Thirties ‘Enea’ sandal by Salvatore Ferragamo
(Picture credit score: Courtesy So-Le Studio, Ferragamo)
‘I’d seen the shoe earlier than, however this time I used to be struck by the elegant concord of all the weather collectively,’ she says of the ‘Enea’, a 1930’s red-and-gold goatskin shoe, shimmering with all of the understated glamour of Salvatore Ferragamo’s Hollywood-era model. ‘The geometric construction of the overlapping leather-based strips, the contrasting textures and hues and the unique weaving strategies all translated into a brand new, 3D object in my thoughts.’
So-Le Studio ‘Beetle’ brooch
(Picture credit score: Courtesy, So-Le Studio)
Whereas coil earrings, geometric cuffs and necklaces have been So-Le Studio’s mainstay, the jeweller remembers how that object grew to become the bronze-flecked brown leather-based ‘Beetle’, her debut brooch design. It got here to her in the course of the ‘wobbly first steps’ of the making course of. ‘After I begin to create, I do not essentially have an space of the physique in thoughts,’ she reveals. ‘Fairly, I think about all of my items as standalone objects or sculptures, which have an id past being worn.
‘Right here, I began taking part in with the leather-based strips, creating patterns, focusing my thoughts on the geometrical essence of the “Enea” sample. The curved kind that emerged immediately felt very sturdy by itself, and I imagined it as a brooch.’
Lightness is a key motif of So-Le Studio designs, and since brooches are sometimes voluminous and heavy, Sole-Ferragamo designed a magnet clip, in order that the ‘Beetle’ may be connected to a garment with out piercing it.
So-Le Studio leather-based hair barette
(Picture credit score: So-Le Studio)
The capsule assortment additionally consists of the ‘Harmonia’ leather-based hair jewelry piece, the place supple, geometric cuts enable the leather-based sample to stretch stylishly across the hair.
‘Each time I begin a brand new design, I really feel a slight sense of hysteria and anticipation: How will I make it this time? How will I enhance and evolve once more?’ She admits that trying by means of her grandfather’s designs ‘with their infinite potentialities’ affords reassurance. As does his design mantra: ‘There isn’t any restrict to magnificence, no saturation level within the design, no finish to the fabric.’
so-le-studio.com
Supply: Wallpaper
