Interview with Lucilla Giovanninetti

Do you think that jewelry is being standardized? What is there of local and universal in your artistic work?
I don’t believe you are able to talk about jewelry so vaguely. Today there still exists a vast production of jewelry linked to the country, it’s traditions, customs and fashions, and anyone who makes jewelry cannot fail to take this into account, both wanting to distance themselves from it and completely stand by it.
At the same time the widespread circulation of images on the web greatly influences the design, eliminating, in part, the localisms, but I believe it can be understood more as an opportunity for knowledge rather than a flattening of the project.
Many stimuli, comparisons, suggestions. All of these expand the boundaries, guiding the references and the identities in a non-geographic direction, while the thinking and the feeling remain characteristic.
Up until now in my work, I haven’t made a direct reference to the LOCAL or the UNIVERSAL. I believe that my jewelry accessories are the result of studies, traditions, influences and geographic affiliations.
And so, yes, you can speak about LOCAL, in the sense that the term itself now no longer corresponds to specific territorial characteristics, but it is always inevitably more the sum of several different influences.

What do you expect when exposing your work to the public (for example with an exhibition)?
Curiosity, interpretations, questions and therefore indications of reflection and analysis. And then hedonism of exposing oneself.

Are other areas besides the jewelry, present in your work?
The construction of volumes typical of tailoring and textile processing on the one hand. And the sculptural research with it’s relationship between solids and voids, and the material sensitivity on the other.

The last work, book, film, that has moved me was...
There are too many!

A place, space, country whose creativity surprises me...
Every time that I have the possibility to spend time with a small child occupying himself cheerfully with a toy, without any preconceived notions.

Is there any designer, jeweller, artist, you appreciate a lot?
There are so many!

What piece or work has given you the most satisfaction?
There are two significant pieces of work for my research. My necklace PROMESSA DI MATRIMONIO (MARRIAGE PROMISE), 2011, composed of rounded volumes of cotton fabric, set against a bronze ring. The softness of the fabric that wraps around the body, embracing it, combining with the metal.

The pendant N°2, 2012, one of my first pieces obtained by stiffening the fabric with resin. Here the contrast between the expanded volume and the lightness, and the wonder that emerges from it adds to its playfulness