Archivi tag: customized Italian item

SILVIA TOFFANIN

It was love at the first sight with Silvia! Perhaps because of her energy, or her genuine and contagious smile with whom she welcomed me when we met the first time. I believe I would like everything made of her just because of her and the way she moves in the space around itself, because it seems she does it lightly and cheerfully.

Silvia was born in Padua, a quiet city near Venice, in the north of Italy. She was a cheerful, active, diligent school girl, but very talkative 🙂

She is now living in China after 13 years spent in Milan, where she is now running her Footwear Design Consultancy Studio, BLACKZEROstudios, based in Milan and Shenzhen.


Why China? It happened by chance, but she discovers a completely different way to work and to make business: in China everything moves fast, people are very dynamic and love to risk.

The Made in Italy is unique but Chinese people are unbeatable in business.

Dreams

I started dancing at 5, so obviously the first dream was to become a dancer, then in middle school suddenly, after seeing Apollo 13, I began to dream of being an astronaut… later an airplane pilot! My childhood was serene and happy: afternoons after kindergarten and in summer, when my parents had to work, I spent time with my maternal grandparents. Grandma is a seamstress, I always saw her with needle and thread in her hands, so I spent the whole afternoons playing and messing with fabric remnants and copying clothes. Since then I noticed that my interest in fashion increased and when I was 8/9 years old they gave me one sewing machine toy for my birthday.

The Beginning

Since adolescence, with the help of grandma, we created a lot of clothes or customized what I bought or what I already had, adding particularity and originality to the pieces I wore. At the end of the High School, where I studied languages, time has come to make a decision how to continue my studies.

To everyone’s amazement I decided to study fashion. Fashion was far away from my previous studies and from my personal style at that time. Indeed in that moment, I was not a Fashionista in the literal sense. I was a little rebel: creative, eccentric, thinking out of the box, with a great passion for streetstyle and couture, always researching new mixes of fabrics, colours and shapes. That’s why I thought my creative energy could perfectly find application in the charming world of Fashion.

My family initially disagreed, but eventually we found a solution and I left for Milan. 5 years at the Politecnico of Milan, a thousand adventures, ideas, projects, experiences.

Even before finishing my master’s degree I started working for a Footwear Design Studio. Thanks to a university course I have known Marco and Guillaume and their brand Guillaume Hinfray, like this I sent them an email asking for an internship and so I started. Beside my grandmother, surely they are the people who inspired me to take this path and thanks to whom I turned my passion into my work.

From there everything began!

 Work

(2009) I stayed with Marco and Guillaume 6 years long and then moved on to the freelance business collaborating with other studios and brands.

Less than one year ago, in 2019 I started my project Studio Blackzerostudios_Milano: after so many years drawing shoes, in September I got the chance to participate at the London Fashion Week with a capsule of clothing. I took the opportunity on the fly: this is how my first clothing collection was born.

Future Projects

And now here I am, I continue with the same passion and love for fashion I have many projects in the drawer that I hope to realize soon! These days I’m working on a new important personal project. It’s a “secret dream” I’ve been keeping in my heart and now I think it’s the right moment to start.

I can’t reveal more details, so… stay tuned, news are coming!…

 

Photo credits by Ph. Elisabetta Brian @elisabetta_brian
Model: Francesca Interlenghi @the_dummys_tales
Location: Galleria Raffaella Cortese @galleriaraffaellacortese
Exhibition: Unrequited love by Monica Bonvicini

 

GUARDA ROBA

The shop is called Guarda Roba, which means both wardrobe and “watch stuff”, is created as a mirror of your personal wardrobe where you can find what you need from shoes to clothes.

The shop was created totally for fun, since both the owners, Lula and Annalisa, have already another primary business. This is why the shop is open late in the afternoon, two days during the week, and Saturdays & Sundays in the winter season. During summer they open more evenings during the week.

Guardaroba came to light from passions; Annalisa’s love for shoes and Lula’s adoration for bags. Here you can admire the finest samples but keep in mind that every single item can’t be repeated, they are unique and customized.

Lula is the owner of a belt manufacturing company, so after several years she accumulated a treasure in studs and leather left from other creations. She is a hardcore researcher of passementerie, whether vintage from the 70s, Indian or otherwise, which she uses to assemble the bags lining.

That’s why these bags are gorgeous inside and fabulous outside! This is her speciality: she can’t repeat herself twice, so your product will be the one and only made in that certain way.

We love to be unique in a way or another, don’t we?

The clothes you find in the shop come from Cesena, designed and produced from the fashion designer Valentina (brand: “Come Le Ciliegie”).

Are you craving for a customized Italian item like one of these? Come to the shop with your fabric if you have a special one, or leave it all in Lula and Annalisa’s hands. Find them at the Italian seaside in their shop or at the Matrioska event twice a year.

It is always time for shopping!

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