Milano Fashion&Jewels
22-25 February 2025
fieramilano, Rho
Work done with 'head' and 'hands', free from seasonal trends.
Research is the real creative driver of HOMI Fashion&Jewels Exhibition’s New Craft section. Curiosity, innovation, a connection to reality and a focus on what surrounds us. These are all delicate stimuli for designers with a strong contemporary spirit who appeal to even the most discerning palates.
Reading between the lines, you can see a desire to offer unique, artisanal pieces, designed first by the head and then made by hand. "I offer hand-crafted objects made by women, bijoux that represents their world view and their idea of creativity — Laura Menci of Annie Hall — "As I always say: Before doing it by hand, you have to know how to do it with your head: that’s why most of my designers have a research and studies background. This is the only way to create a genuine ‘research product’ that aims to amaze: “it’s an object that’s not yet aesthetically on the market. I want to see pieces that I myself have not already found elsewhere”, Laura Menci concludes.
Lieven Oosterlinck of Qwesto also relies on originality: “Our shop is known for always having something new that’s hard to find elsewhere. That's what guides and inspires us: we only select what we like and what we believe in, because we need to feel a connection with the people we collaborate with”. That’s why we don’t chase seasonal trends, but create them with choices based on continuous research: “It’s not our customers who ask us for trends. We're the ones who present our customers with what we think they might like or need. They trust our choices. We don’t depend much on trends because we want our customers to enjoy their jewellery collection long-term and feel satisfied for as long as possible. We try to stay ahead of trends and offer our customers original, timeless pieces so they can create their own trends. This approach — Lieven concludes — is longer-lived than ever!”.