December 9, 2020

MATUTA GIOIELLI

INTERVIEW WITH CRISTINA SERAFINI SAULI:

I am Cristina Serafini Sauli, Florentine by birth and Roman by adoption. Trained architect and jewelry designer by passion.

How was your passion and your brand born?

I have always loved jewelry, since I was a child opening my mother or grandmother’s jewelry boxes was an absolute joy. I didn’t care about the preciousness, what I liked was the originality. I remeber Buccellati and Brandimarte silver jewels, but also unique creations by Pineda or Guayasamin. Ten years ago, after twenty years of profession as an architect, I decided that jewelry would become my profession; thus my brand Matuta Gioielli was born, whose name is inspired by the Roman divinity Matermatuta, goddess of the dawn and of “new beginnings” so that it was a good omen.

How would you define your style?

I work with lost wax cast bronze, an ancient technique that also lends itself to contemporary jewelry. Mine is a style that ranges from “geometric” to “organic”.

What was the first piece of jewerly you designed?

Necklaces and earrings that I made by collecting shells and polished glass and assembled them with the copper of electric cables, as a child.

What inspires you?

My pieces of jewelry are inspired by architecture, modern art, painting and sculpture: a strong nature always emerges over all of them, which ironizes and plays with size and structure. The shape of a gnarled branch, a stylized shell, multicolored beetles that dominate geometric shapes and semi-precious stones.

When you work on a project, where do you start from?

I usually start from a drawing, after all I am an architect and design is fundamental for me, then I make a wax prototype and once it is cast and finished I decide if I like it or not.

What are you working on at the moment?

Right now I’m working on several projects: I’m carrying out the new models of my Kilim collection and at the same time I’m collaborating with two Florentine designers for a collection of jewels inspired by their designs; and a collection of cameos revisited in a modern way, using colored resins, created with Maria Laura Berlinguer, expert in Italian style.

What’s in the future of your brand?

I hope for new collaborations with different realities, and new pieces of jewelry.