Maria Sole Ferragamo
S (H) AVING -Nautilus, 2020
Gold plated brass earrings
Diameter 3.5cm, weight 7g per earring
Unique within an edition of 10
S(h)aving is the newborn project of SO-LE Studio that sees Maria Sole Ferragamo working for the first time with metal leftovers, exclusively for Elisabetta Cipriani Gallery.
It was born in Sole’s favourite place to be: the factory. During one of her visits to the one that produces the metal elements of her leather jewellery, her attention was captured by a group of bins, containing shining little creatures. They were brass shavings – a mountain of them – of different forms and sizes, covered in oil and united in a huge tangle. Their destiny was to be melted into other brass, but Sole decided to explore the vibration that was there and asked if she could take some to the studio.
These brass shavings had an energy, something to say, but never to be repeated. She handpicked each of them, open to explore what they could be transformed into. By following this flow each earring was born with a unique personality and form. The brass shaving is moulded and shaped by Sole’s hands, then coated in gold or palladium and eventually painted with a special varnish.
A careful listener and an alert observer, Maria Sole Ferragamo is an ever-curious visionary. In this project, she heard a new voice calling her to be rescued: not the familiar tone of leather but the shiny one of brass. Lightness, movement, velocity, and effortlessness are key to each piece – unique of a series of ten – as well as the idea that the limit and scarcity connected to the use of leftovers can be a crucial strength rather than a weakness.
