In conversation with Valentina Lagana: It’s very difficult to keep the line between the past and the present
“Without the past there is no future” – Valentina Lagana: You can live in the present, but the past and the future put together will add a superior value, an artistic and historical value and make you contemporary.
FF: How did it all start? You come from an artistic background, is that true?
VL: I come from an artistic background because my parents were artists. My father was a set designer, a director, theater costume designer and my mother taught at the art institute. Let's say I grew up in a house where only this was done. We painted, drew, and took photographs. There was a screen-printing frame in the living room. But it was not a normal house like the others. I grew up in the midst of all this.
FF: That must have influenced you a lot.
VL: And then I went to art school and I studied architecture. But there is a part of me that is very entrepreneurial. I liked the idea of having a business and giving work to others. Giving work was something I really liked as a concept.
FF: It is a collective aspect to it. Tell me about the ring with the hands.
VL:One of the few things that is a reproduction of an Etruscan ring and I made these horns inside. It is a superstitious ring because horns in Sicily are a symbol of good luck against bad luck.
FF: Where did you grow up, Rome?
VL: I was born in Catania, I grew up in Sicily, then I lived in Palermo for many years. I moved to Turin 15 years ago.
FF: But your heart has remained in the south. What is your best memory, let's say, of your family, in Sicily?
VL: When we went to the new house my mother gave me brushes and colors and she said ok, paint the walls of your room however you want. Oh what a crazy thing for a little girl. I did some painting and then I wasn't satisfied. Not being satisfied with what you do is my classic, and then you change 100 times. However, that was a beautiful experience, I always had these drawings in front of me for years. Every now and then I added a piece, painted, changed it because I didn't like it anymore. But one thing I learned was freedom. This freedom that has been given to me is a precious thing because, how to say, it has influenced my whole life. Being able to see in a stain the opportunity to make a flower and not seeing it as a stain opened me up to a lot of opportunities.
VL: Free, but you also make it work.
N:No, it's certainly not just freedom. In fact, making jewels is complicated because everything must stay in balance, it must not be heavy, it must be comfortable, it must not be unbalanced.
FF: What do you like to work with?
VL: I work a lot with silver, copper, bronze. I recently bought bronze because I started working with wax later. I worked directly with metals, so with plates, with pipes, silver, silver, copper are my favorite materials. Now I'm making a new line lacquered in gold.
FF: Where do you think the industrial idea comes from?
VL: But perhaps since I accompanied my father to the theater workshops that were in these industrial buildings where these ten-meter-high scenes were built because he did opera theater and therefore set designs and it was all very industrial but public at the same time, and the desire to recreate that environment where I was feeling at home.
Valentina Lagana will be exhibiting at HOMI FASHION&JEWELS EXHIBITION
15 - 18 September 2023
A dedication to sustainability, craftsmanship, design and manufacturing with the ultimate accuracy. HOMI FASHION&JEWELS EXHIBITION explores a cultural challenge, is sustainability an utopian fantasy or a possibility?