What is the best thing that I love about my work?

It’s my creative side that increases everyday, and the way I use colors. I’m a jewelry designer and I can’t imagine my jewels without colors, black and white included of course.

What is my idea of happiness?

It’s a place rather than an idea. An endless space full of nature, plants and flowers, a lake to dive into and the warm sun that embraces me.

What is my greatest fear?

It’s to not have enough time to complete my creative soul, I know I still have a lot to do in the next years of my life. I have many ideas in my mind that are pawing and can’t wait to go out. If I could I would devote myself only to this, but the lack of time and everyday life do not allow me.

This maybe is because my life changed very late, only a few years ago.

What is the trait that I most deplore in myself?

My low precision. I found out very late, at almost forty, that I was suffering from dyslexia. In the previous decades this created numerous problems to me especially when I was young, at home and at school. Not knowing what it was, my family too, I always thought it was a huge limit. But then I learned with a big effort how to transform it into something beautiful and today I can say that this is an absolute advantage. My low precision, that I can’t manage, may turn into something characteristic and beautiful.

Which living persons in my profession do i most admire?

I don’t have one person in particular, as there has never been someone who really inspired my work. I greatly admire many jewelry artists, those who use paper above all, as I do, maybe because I would like that paper will be recognized in the world of art jewelry as a precious material with a great value and with its infinite creative properties. I think that today only a few artists know how to use paper in such a precious and artistic way.

Then those who use ceramic, glass and even those who know how to use needle and thread skillfully. Is this strange? For some years now I have had a strong attraction towards craftsmanship involving weaving and embroidery. Maybe it will be my next step?

What is my greatest extravagance?

I’m actually a very simple person, but I’d like to be more extravagant, and I’m sure this will happen over time, only because I really want my art to involve me personally, my appearance, my style, this hasn’t happened yet, I’m still too influenced by many limits due to my personal situation.

On what occasion would I lie?

You should understand what a lie is and why it was told, but in the end this does not matter because nobody is listening to what you are talking about.

What is the thing that I dislike the most in my work?

Not to know many techniques. I have learned everything on my own, I have never followed any kind of specific jewelry course, I have tried and failed so many times until I have reached such what I thought it was a good level for me to start to give life to my creativity. I know it is still not a very good work, but isn’t art also beautiful for its imperfections?

When and where was I the happiest, in my work?

When in 2019 some of my jewels were displayed in Venice for an art exhibition, the town where I was born. This had a great meaning to me. The day I went to the opening I was so excited, along the way I wondered what my parents would have thought if they had been alive. Venice was and still is a very important city for me, a “dream world” a part of me and of my life that I never wanted to leave.

If I could, what would I change about myself?

Many things. if I could I would love to go back in time, consciously, to change events that have definitely made a mark in my life.

What is my greatest achievement in work?

It’s still too early to talk about success, I only changed my professional life a few years ago, for what I call rebirth or resilience. I can only say that everything I do is already a great achievement for me. I created my first jewel in early 2014. I was not sure what I was doing.

Where would I most like to live?

Actually I could be anywhere and live everywhere, but I really regret leaving my hometown, Venice. If I could I would go back to live there, but Venice is no longer the city of when I was a child.

What is my most treasured possession?

One of the first books written by my father and published by grandfather. He was really young, it is a small biography of Paul Klee. It was published in 1948, my father was 21 years old. I found this book a couple of years ago in a used book library, inside there is still the receipt of when it was first sold 70 years ago. That’s a sign, it has many meanings for me.

What is my most marked characteristic?

There is not one in particular but a combination of things: the use of colors, the soft touch of my jewels and their sinuous shapes. I often use black and white, and I like to create jewelry by recycling paper from books. I have an idea for a new collection of jewelry made with books that are very important and special to me.

What is my most inspirational location, in my city?

I live in Milano, from many years. There are many places here, but above all I love much more one of the modern neighborhoods built a few years ago, I really like walking there on foot, it seems to go through a sort of temporal gate, from the past to the future, to open and free spaces. I see this place as an invitation to go ahead into the future, and this makes me feel good.

What is my favorite place to eat and drink, in my city?

I’m fond of sweets and I love food, especially Japanese cuisine. So my special places are two famous pastry shop in the center of Milan, Marchesi and Bastianello, and several Japanese restaurants.

What books influenced my life and how?

The books published by my father, so many in so many years. He was an art and car design publisher, many of his books influenced my life. We made many of these books together because I was an Art Director before becoming a jewelry designer, and I worked in my family publishing house for many years.

The last book published together was so important, it signed the end of an era and the beginning of a deep change. It was a book on an American artist, Conrad Marca-Relli, published in 2008, the catalog of a beautiful exhibition that was held in that year in Milan. My father died a few days before its opening. It has been a very hard experience for me.

You Only Die Once. What music would I listen on my last day?

I think no kind of music, I think I would like to hear only the silence around me. There are many sounds and music that are the soundtrack to my work and to my life everyday. I think in the end I would like to listen only to silence.

Who is my hero or heroine in fiction?

Men and women who exceed the limit of their way to be.

Who are my heroes and heroines in real life?

I am the hero of my life. Do I look presumptuous? Those who know me and know my story know what I mean.

Which movie would i recommend to see once in a lifetime?

My great passion for cinema does not allow me choose a particular movie, I think each of us should look for his favorite movie every year, following his own mood.

Don’t be too hard with yourself, sometimes we need lightness in our lives and this lightness can also be found in a movie.

Need a title? I would start from “Fantasia” by Walt Disney (1940), I think many of us have never seen it even as a kid. Now it is the right moment to watch it.

What role plays art in my life and work?

A central and constant role. For me, anything is art, even the worst thing. My father taught me to recognize the beauty and to appreciate the ugly, I still have to learn many things more, but being able to recognize both it’s already a step forward.

What do the words ‘You are the storyteller of your own life’ to me?

Never stop, go ahead, nice things have yet to come.

Who is my greatest fan, sponsor, partner in crime?

It can be anyone, who supports me and tells me not to give up. On many occasions in recent years, but also in the past, in my family too, I have met people who have tried to make me change my mind or put obstacles in my path. Today everything that has happened makes me understand that I have always been right and I should have followed my instinct. This is my great regret.

Which people or companies would I like to work with in 2020? 

This puts me a little in difficulty because I have always thought that my work must be recognized for its value. I’d like to create a jewelry collection for a famous fashion brand and see it on the catwalks during a fashion show. But I would also like to see my jewels on display in some museum, maybe at the Moma, at the Coda Museum, and some else around the world. It’s a dream, maybe one day…

What project, in 2020, am I looking forward to work on?

Well, I have so many new ideas. I never stop creating in these months and today I no longer know which one to show.

Where can you see me or my work in 2020?

Due to the Covid chaos, this 2020 is a very uncertain year, it seems that everything has to start again, at least that’s how it is for me since I started this work only a few years ago. Let’s see what will happen in the coming months, but you can find my art jewels online as usual. You just need to check my social accounts and search for Alfieri Jewel Design, or my website www.paper-jewellery.com and stay tuned, news will come soon, I hope.

What do the words “Passion Never Retires” mean to me?

It’s my motto, I will never retire until I will finished and complete my work.

How can you contact me?

You can search me on social media, search for Alfieri Jewel Design or my website www.paper-jewellery.com or my store www.alfierijeweldesign.etsy.com

Here follows a message of Peter de Kuster, founder of The Heroine’s Journey