“Wallpaper is a fantastic, infinite, wonderful, fascinating world. There are so many types of wallpaper. The one I use for my products, especially for bags, is the thicker vinyl wallpaper, more resistant especially to humidity and water.”
The Story
Arianna Cappellini was born in a small town, near the Tuscan city of Pistoia. Their parents who wanted to redeem themselves from a state of simplicity and poverty. Two “lions” she said, two ambitious, united and fighting people. Their determination brought to the birth of a company producing sofas and armchairs, which slowly, in the 70s, led them to reach a status quo since always desidered. Both passed away between 2019 and 2020, leaving a deep void behind, and a great legacy: the desire to do something, to create something for themselves.
“I started working on my project, after almost 20 years work as a styling-artbuyer, in short as the one who works alongside the photographer for the creation of photographic images for various sales catalogs, for furniture field customers. It was and it is a fun and very, very creative job. It is about recreating small or large environments around the object, protagonist of the scene, researching the decorative elements called “props”. I had to go for shops, for warehouses, for companies, always looking for the right object to create the right atmosphere. Often it happened to me to also design the entire catalog and the various photo shots.
Around 2018, I felt the need to “do” something for me. During my styling activity, I often used wallpaper, as a decoration, for walls that created the set. It also happened to buy an object made of this material. I was struck by the fact that it was an object of daily use, made with a material that was not really born to be handled, but that was born to be fixed to a wall, and to remain there for the time that is deemed necessary. In 2018, therefore, following this push of “doing something” for me, I started creating small objects: ornamental decorations, earrings, necklaces. But the main goal was to create a special bag, one “adorned” and precious, for women.
Tilde & Flor was born just like this, an entirely fantasy name, female, as well as the name of my bags, all name of artists, singers, painters…”
Material
Wallpaper is a fantastic, infinite, wonderful, fascinating world. There are so many types of wallpaper. The one I use for my products, especially for bags, is the thicker vinyl wallpaper, more resistant especially to humidity and water. The bags are made according to my project and sewn by an artisan company in the field of leather goods, so they are built like all the bags currently on the market. Reinforced and lined and with decorative elements, ranging from bamboo handle, to resin chain, which becomes a handle. Fabrics like linings also recovered from leftover or waste material. Furthermore every bag is cruelty free.
The gem is that each bag has to be a unique piece, above all because each bag it is made with sheets of wallpaper, recovered from the sales catalogs, abandoned by the manufacturing companies, which I started to recover, in the trimmings shops.
What’s so special?
My creations are all unique pieces, there is no piece like the other. They are original, in the form and details, because of the material that dresses them. The project foresees the reuse of the material that comes from the disused catalogs, and therefore they are bags that follow a civic sense in reusing material that would be thrown away.
Furthermore, and not least, they are light, and we -women- know how annoying heavy bags are, which are then filled up to become very heavy objects.
Passion
My passion comes from wanting to test myself, from wanting to create something beautiful that came from my ideas, my creativity, and the desire to redeem the great work done by my parents, as a small businesswoman.
Difficulties
The difficulties are always around the corner… The biggest difficulty for me is the production. Mine is very very limited precisely because they are all unique pieces and because Tilde&Flor was born and still has to make itself known. The production I said, is and has been a big obstacle, both for the manpower and for the costs. Now I hope to have met the artisan company that has decided to marry my project. I’m happy.
Goals
“PAWS UP advocates “The Mutual Rescue” concept because we believe that rescued animals are more than just a pet. They are educators of life’s lessons: they teach honesty, loyalty and unconditional love. They hold an integral role in society as lifelong companions and therapists to the less fortunate” says Lyn Siew, co-founder of PAWS UP!
