Xanthe Ficcara is repurposing jewellery into contemporary pieces
“A passionate narrative in between the outdated and the new.”
When Melbourne designer Xanthe Ficcara did not have entry to a buttonhole equipment, she made a decision to get started applying secondhand jewelry to fasten her garments in its place. Gathering bags of jewelry from Facebook Market, Xanthe experimented with deconstructing and repurposing the preloved pieces. “I strung some brooches and chains alongside one another as a belly chain and inevitably, I wore it on my neck,” she says.
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Just after graduating from style style and design, developing bespoke jewellery “was just a minor fewer daunting than basically earning some clothes,” Xanthe tells me. Obtaining her area of interest at the intersection of metal sculpture and your grandma’s jewellery box, Xanthe started commissioning personalized parts (“repurposed allure collars”) by Instagram DMs. Under, she speaks on her style and design method, influences and what is following for the label.
Convey to us about you. What is your vogue background?
I studied my Honours in Style Layout at RMIT. My last calendar year was in 2020, so the lockdown definitely shook issues up. I guess I got into vogue for the reason that I always experienced strategies and could under no circumstances find them in the shops. My mum would sew them for me. She eventually bought unwell of that and taught me how to sew myself.
How did the label get started out? Converse us via the method and the problems.
I had to entire my whole assortment at household in my garage during the COVID lockdowns. We experienced no access to buttonhole devices, so I started making use of chunky brooches and necklaces to fasten my garments. I would source all the parts from women donating baggage of costume jewelry on Facebook Marketplace.
Just after uni, I continued accumulating from marketplaces and op shops. I strung some brooches and chains alongside one another as a stomach chain and sooner or later, I wore it on my neck. It was just a minor less daunting than really producing some clothing.
What had been you striving to reach from the challenge at the time? How has this developed and what are you attempting to converse as a result of the brand now?
It is always been critical to me to get inspiration from what is previously out there. Embracing the natural beauty and recollections in aged things can spark a complete new concept for me anything I probably wouldn’t have assumed of on my have.
It forces me to really assume and trial [ideas] inside of the limits of whatever I come across that week. It’s continuously evolving, I can under no circumstances get much too snug with a specific model or pendant. I could find something even far better tomorrow.
How would you describe Xanthe Ficarra to another person who’s by no means found it before?
The marriage concerning grandma’s jewelry upper body and whimsical renewal. A romantic narrative in between the aged and the new.
What are you most proud of in your function on your brand name?
I’m happy that it in a natural way evolved. I felt pressure to make clothes right after finding out manner but actually, nothing was coming to me. I didn’t want to sit and drive ideas out of me. Jewellery was enjoyable and harmless and considerably less scary.
Who is in your wardrobe proper now?
My wardrobe desires some TLC. The jewellery section of the op stores will get far extra focus than the clothing. I usually decide for a primary outfit with a assertion necklace.
How can we buy 1 of your pieces?
For now, all pieces are personalized-designed. Just ship [me] a concept on Instagram. I like to permit folks pick their pendants. A web page will be coming in the new calendar year.
Can you notify us about a favourite piece you have created and the tale powering it?
I respect that I don’t comply with a solitary strategy or composition, as it makes it possible for me to play with positioning. I’m generally coming up with new sequences and approaches to adorn the neck.
I’ve surely uncovered some of my favourite pendants, but the freedom to set items together in a new way each and every time suggests I’m getting a new favourite each 7 days. Just when I feel I have run the op shops dry, I look to uncover some thing I have under no circumstances seen ahead of. It is very remarkable.
Wander us by means of your structure procedure. Wherever do you discover inspiration for new parts?
I acquire trinkets and charms as I go, nearly anything I think I’ll use in the foreseeable future. I’m not essentially shopping with a necklace in brain. You have to believe exterior of what you see.
Some pendants seem underwhelming and unappealing dangling from a 15-yr-aged chain, but in my intellect, they all come collectively to create one thing exclusive. I let individuals select their pendants – often it’s a thing I hardly ever would have picked, but I like that.
I’m not limiting my item to strictly my possess particular desire. I start with the pendant and do the job my way all around it. It is a match of stability, demo and mistake. I really do not system – I just make it as I go. I know when I will need a thing large or smaller, stable or vacant. Finally, it will come together.
Who are some of your favourite designers?
Martin Margiela is constantly on just about every mood board. He is all time. He wholly shifted the way I look at placing matters with each other. Simply because of him, I can not see development devoid of deconstruction. He encourages me to unpack a system and do it in another way.
I aspiration of possessing a Chopova Lowena skirt. I adore the use of recycled components to create eccentric, clashing designs. Charlotte Knowles’ use of print and silhouette is true splendor to me.
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