June 2013 TELVA (Spain)

June 2013 TELVA (Spain)

June 2013 TELVA (Spain)

June2013 TELVA (Spain)

June 2013 TELVA (Spain)

June 2013 TELVA (Spain)

June 2013 TELVA (Spain)

June2013 TELVA (Spain)

June 2013 TELVA (Spain)

June 2013 TELVA (Spain)

June 2013 TELVA (Spain)

June 2013 TELVA (Spain)

June 2013 TELVA (Spain) Translation:

The last Visconti

Granddaughter of the Mayor of Rome after World War II, daughter of a politician, wife of an aristocrat

who was descendant of one of the oldest dynasties of Italy, and mother of four children; Osanna

Visconti di Modrone is not the typical jewelry designer. Her exquisite taste -irreverent in contrast with

the classicism of Il Gattopardo, film of his famous ancestor Luchino Visconti- shines in her home

situated in the center of Milan and in her last collection, Chiodo, an ode to punk.

(Photo credit) On the other page, Osanna Visconti in her living room. She is wearing a Bottega

Veneta jumpsuit, necklace and bracelet of her collection Chiodo, available on YOOX.COM. On this

page, detail of her library. On the table, a methacrylate cube with the gymnast Nadia Comaneci on

the buck, by the artist Laura Matei.

“In this house there are fresco paintings from the Ottocento, from the lounge to the kitchen, I really

like to give it an irreverent touch, mixing it with contemporary pieces.”

I must admit that I was nervous. To get into an aristocratic family house, with a surname that dates

back to the Middle Ages, inspires respect. The lord of the house is an art gallery owner and is the

nephew of the famous film director Luchino Viconti; the lady is a very elegant woman who designs

jewelry and whose ancestors were prominent politicians who appear in the history books. I have an

appointment with her at 11.30 h. Her house and her jewelry atelier are only 10 minutes’ walk from the

Duomo of Milan. We went through the door of number 13 of Santa Marta street and before going

upstairs we passed a cortile where stands a sculpture of Jedd Novatt. We ring the bell. The first

impression is important, and in front of a neon fuchsia on my left, there is a sculpture of Mao Zedong

and a poster by the artist Urs Lüthi on my right, I do not know whether to relax or to get more

nervous. We move on and enter the library, full of books, artworks (in a methacrylate box the

gymnast Nadia Comaneci on the buck, work of the artist Laura Matei) and a glass lamp hanging from

the ceiling. Then a warm and lively lounge, with fresco paintings from the 18th century, where

Osanna Visconti di Modrone comes to meet us.

She receives us barefoot and all the rigid and ceremonial schemes I had in my head, disappear. "I

was getting dressed for the photos and you caught me with no shoes!" she tells us while she gives us

a welcome in Spanish. “Actually what I speak is Itañolo (Spanish in Italian is Spagnolo),” she says in

a friendly way. She calls the service Carmen comes, a South American lady, who also in Spanish

gives us something to drink. Osanna wears a Bottega Veneta jumpsuit that seems made especially

for her measures (I think she's a size 36). She is very thin but with curves. I have not seen a more

elegant woman in my life. I imagined her taller (she is 160cm tall more or less) and she has that

wonderful skin of women who wisely did not want to undergo surgery and to whom wrinkles (few, I

must say) and expression lines fit great.

Now with shoes, a very high brown leather sandals also of Bottega Beneta, she lets me choose

where to sit for the interview. I choose a brown chair and she stands in front of me willing to be

peppered with questions. Obviously, with this panorama and before shooting with my questions, I

can only fall surrendered at the feet of this lovely and normal woman.

A CREATIVE AND EXCENTRIC MOTHER

“To understand a work of art, especially if it is contemporary, it is helpful to know the author, to know

what led him to do this work and what he wants to transmit with it,” Osanna argues. So even though

her jewels are easy to understand, with key sculptural identity, I realize that she does not design

jewelry in a creative outburst of a bored aristocrat.

(Photo credit) In a corner of her home. The wall is hand painted by herself. "Actually my neighbor

helped me," she says.

She has the art in the blood. "My mother has always been very bold to dress and wear jewelry.

Whereas other women of her time wore discrete and fine jewelry, she wore big and splashy

pendants and bracelets," and she continues "it was hilarious to see her."

June 2013 TELVA (Spain) I've read that you as a child played with your mother's jewelry, do you remember any particular gem

you gave more attention to?

She had a huge butterfly made by an Italian artist, Mario Ceroli, who works a lot with tears of wood,

but in this case they were in gold. It was a brooch that could also be a pendant. It was my favorite

part, it drove me crazy. I also remember another pendant, made by Umberto Mastroianni, it was very

big and with stones inside, very 70s, beautiful and original, and a wonderful bracelet made by Lucio

Fontana.

Did she only have modern pieces she ordered to Italian artists of that moment?

No, she had also classic jewelry like a very nice pearls necklace given to her in the 50s. When I still

lived in Rome, before I got married, she came to work with me and I remember that she ordered a

very long necklace that she later reinterpreted. She is very creative, passionate, eccentric and fun,

but not only with jewels. She has always gone ahead, even beyond me. In the decoration of her

house, in fashion... She is very modern.

Can you illustrate this with an image?

In the 70s she bought a huge chalet in the mountains, in Cortina, it was all lined with leopard velvet.

It has remained like that until today and the contrast between the print and the wood is very nice.

This could be awful but she knows how to do it.

“I ALWAYS WANTED TO DESGIN JEWELERY”

What did you dream to be when you were a child?

Jewelry designer. When I was at school I spun beads under my desk and I sold earrings to my

colleagues in the breaks. We lived very close to San Pedro Square and the old Rome, in Piazza

Navona area. There was a store that still exists, called Novitá, where they sell beads. It drove me

crazy! At home I made a kind of workshop and instead of studying I spent my time spinning beads in

a metallic wire.

How do you remember your childhood in Rome?

I have been a very fortunate person. I grew up in a large family, we were five siblings, we had a big

and brightly house and we have always been very close. It was a very happy and wonderful stage.

Also Rome is a unique city, my school was above Piazza Di Spagna square, in Trinitá dei Monti, a

privilege.

Your father was one of the founders of the party Alleanza Nazionale, your mother was an artist. What

did you talk about during dinner?

We had dinner all together in a very happy atmosphere. My siblings have always been very friendly

and witty. My father, besides a politician, was a great thinker. He repeated us that we had to invest in

ourselves and form us very well. He was highly educated and a great lover of the city of Rome, his

father was the mayor for ten years. Even today with 87 years he has a foundation that gives

scholarships to students who publish books about the city. He knows everything about every corner,

square, arch, column...

“I MET ANDY WARHOL IN NEW YORK”

Returning to your passion for jewelry, with 19 years you flew to New York to work at the auction

house Christie's. How was life in the Big Apple in the 80s?

I had the privilege of being in the jewelry department and helped organizing the auction for Florence

Gould’ jewels, a multimillionaire American lady, the wife of a magnate of the railway lines. Her jewels

were, like everything else in America, on a large scale! I had in my hands stones of the size of an

apple.

Do you met some noteworthy personality?

Before the auction, important families and personalities with a lot of money came to Christie's to see

the pieces in private visits: Henry Kissinger, Hubert de Givenchy, Jacqueline Kennedy, Donald

Trump… Someone I saw more than once, he came a lot!, was Andy Warhol, a great lover of

gemstones. With each special client, an expert gemologist and I passed into the safe. I am still

amazed by the confidence they had on me.

June 2013 TELVA (Spain) Do you remember some jewelry of that private collection?

A huge blue stones necklace and another very famous one snake-shaped, brightly studded buckler, I

think the latter was from the collection of the Mexican actress Maria Felix.

Which woman in your opinion knows how to wear jewelry with a special taste?

Diana Vreeland did it at her time. She had a great personality and a collection of unusual jewelry

pieces she knew how to mix and wear.

Is there a protocol or rules to wear it right?

I do not like the rules or regulations, or to fall into stereotypes. You need to love them and they have

to reflect the personality of the wearer. I really have fun when I mix it - bronze necklace with

diamonds earrings…- wear them with jeans but also with an evening dress, or a bathing suit at the

sea. It is not necessary to search always the symmetry, but a light touch... and all depends on the

mood of each day.

Do you always wear jewelry?

Yes, always, and sometimes I think first of the pieces, especially if I have just created a collection. It

amuses me to try them and experiment with different looks.

And any piece you never take off?

A ring with a great sentimental value to me. Now I do not wear it because I cut my finger the other

day and I swelled. (she shows me the wound and I see that her voice is choppy. She tries to

overcome and continues). Is it possible that it still thrills me? The ring belonged to my sister who died

at 40. My wonderful life was interrupted when she missed. We worked together and we were very

close. I stopped working for a long time, I did not want to continue designing…

What made you restart?

My group of friends forced me, they are always so affectionate and loving. After 5 or 6 years without

designing, I presented a collection in Allegra Hicks store in London and until today.

“MY HOBBIES? THE GARDEN AND PAINTING”

She wants to show me her jewelry studio and, when we are going out to go down to the cortile, she

points out the paint flake by the lock. "Bamboo tore it all," she says, "our Labrador dog." Osanna is a

nervous and restless woman, in the photos she does not stop moving and her head goes faster than

her speech. She admits being in perpetual movement. When we were on the hall, she told me that

her neighbor had a wonderful home and without thinking twice she rings the doorbell of the house

next door. The service opens the door and Osanna says as she walks, "I came with some Spanish

friends, Idaricaaa!” Indeed, the house is beautiful. We caught Idarica in her workshop in one of the

rooms. Osanna explains to me that she designs and produces printed fabrics. It is seen that in this

neighborhood the art is took very seriously. We said goodbye and Osanna tells me about her

hobbies: "I am never still and every minute I invent something. During the summer I like gardening. In

the winter I love to paint the walls of our house in the country. It is in a medieval style town, Grazzano

Visconti, which the grandfather of my husband built in the late 19th century. I take pictures of the

grounds of the streets like a burgundy and ecru rhombus, and reproduce them at home." With the

iPad in her hand she shows me pictures of the town, and even in some of them she is in a scaffold

with the paintbrush in her hand.

What does your husband think about your work as a jewelry designer? (She stays silent and smiles.)

He says nothing. Well, sometimes he tells me that I do very well. He respects my work, which is a

lot. Italian men from his generation are not usually that way…

Giangaleazzo Visconti has a contemporary art gallery in the center of the city. They were married a

year after they met, and Osanna left his beloved Rome to move to Turin, then to Grazzano Visconti,

until they finally settled in the house where we are, "after a year of living in the country and already

with children, I needed the city as breathing".

June 2013 TELVA (Spain) What do you miss the most from Rome?

No city is comparable to its beauty. In every corner you can find a treasure, but Rome is to have

fun, for meeting to breakfast, then meeting for lunch at one o'clock at a square, and do nothing. The

Romans know how to enjoy life more than the rest. Milan is a city in constant boiling of ideas but it

is boring if you do not work. I'm happy here.

Back in her studio we go back to jewelry, which is actually the reason that led us to Milan. Her

collection Chiodo with the different pieces made by hand and hand signed by her. You can only buy

it on YOOX.COM, online store of fashion, decoration and art, which celebrated their millionth order

last April 10th.

Sell jewelry online is very bold, don’t you think?

Shop on Internet amuses me a lot. I do it at YOOX.COM since 10 years ago. I remember that my

sister Turchese and I bought dresses. I still have one, all embroidered of a Japanese designer,

Akira, she went crazy with the Belgian Dries van Noten and Margiela. We did not care about the

fact they were of past seasons, if something is nice, who cares? Besides, you could return

everything within 10 days, but we do not return anything.

“NOWADAYS TO USE GOLD IS ANACHRONISTIC”

How did you create the Chiodo collection?

It arose in a casual way, in an old hardware store in Rome where they sell nails for one penny. I like

the symbolism and interesting connotations it has, and moreover it is the year of the punk revival,

the exhibition which is now at the MET in New York until August is dedicated to this stream... It's a

nice nod to studs and spikes.

You have just used bronze, why?

In this moment it's my favorite material. It is very versatile and ductile, it gives much play, it can be

opaque, satin... now gold is too expensive and anachronistic.

Do you have a special predilection for a piece when you design?

I love making necklaces, bracelets, earrings... but I find rings very difficult, I never measure

correctly. My customers come back five times to the workshop, with a smile, to make the

adjustment. Maybe that's why this collection has no rings.

(www.osannavisconti.com y YOOX.COM)

IN OSANNA’S WORKSHOP

“My parents have always collected art, my husband is the son of an art dealer and he has his own

collection. Since I was a child I had passion for special pieces.”

Her jewelry atelier in Milan. On the right wall, photographs by Ugo Mules to Lucio Fontana in his

studio, where Osanna’s husband has currently his art gallery, Studio Visconti (Corso Monforte 23,

Milan).

IN HER ATELIER: Jewelry and Home collection

Besides its sculptural designs, Osanna also designed a small collection for the house (bowls, coffee

spoons, serving utensils...) you can see them in her atelier in Via Santa Marta, 13. Milan.

STYLE CLASS

I do not like rules for wearing jewels. I love blending bronze with more important pieces, play with

the asymmetries depending of the mood of each day.

The DNA of my designs is sculptural.

June 2013 TELVA (Spain) My jewelry fits with any fashion brand, but if I have to choose one, I'll stick with Bottega Veneta. I

adore Tomas Maier and his modern and female dresses, always with rigor and elegance that

fascinates me.

I do not usually use stones in my designs. I prefer to play with the ductility and versatility of metals.

Just a millimeter thick to completely change a piece.

My jewels are comfortable, funny and easy to wear. I do not believe that for being beautiful it is

necessary to suffer.

What I enjoy the most in the creative process is the wax model and see how the pieces come

together. The least? I find numbers are very boring.

Many of my friends, all of them very elegant, wear my jewelry. But perhaps Martina Mondadori is the

one who wears them with more passion.

Since a year ago, I also design a small home collection.

ONLY AT YOOX.COM