My temporary neglect of this blog wasn't due to laziness, but to a combination of tendinitis due to typing, flu and hectic working schedule. Time to catch up now, so let's start with a brief video featuring Carmina Campus’ Ilaria Venturini Fendi.
The talk was recorded during the late morning session of the Lusso Essenziale event that took place from 21st to 23rd May 2009 at Rome's Macro Future.
The event tried to explore new trends connected with the world of luxury products from different points of view (art, culture, sociology, fashion, lifestyle, etc). The topic was interesting and stimulating (though there were also some random and rather unnecessary talks and presentations…). I find particularly interesting the debate around the authenticity of the world of fashion and luxury companies promoting eco-friendly/ethical products.
The late morning session featured Daniele Kihlgren, who's behind the restoration project involving Santo Stefano di Sessanio in Abruzzo; Raffaello Pino, a collaborator of architect Mario Cucinella, designer of the 100k house; Ilaria Venturni Fendi, entrepreneur, designer and owner of Rome based shop Re(f)use and Alberto Bruno from the Lancia car company. The moderator was (Italian) Marie Claire's editor in chief Antonio Mancinelli.
I was planning to post an Italian version of the video with English subtitles, but my video editing programme has just blown up, so the video is in Italian, but you will find under it the transcription of the English translation (accompanied by a few pics of Carmina Campus bags made with recycled materials such as car parts or made with tribal headgear crocheted with many colours and patterns by a group of Cameroonese women).
Just a couple of notes: when Ilaria Venturini Fendi mentions the people who talked before her and restoration techniques for historical villages she is referring to Daniele Kihlgren's presentation. The voice you can sometimes hear in the background asking questions to Ilaria is Antonio Mancinelli’s.
Towards the end of her brief presentation she also mentions AltaRoma.
This organisation helps promoting Rome’s fashion scene and has been developing in conjunction with the United Nations' International Trade Centre (INTRACEN) new projects such as initiatives that help women from disadvantaged countries through fashion. AltaRoma has been also trying to involve Lazio-based companies and designers (such as Carmina Campus) in this project and is also planning to launch training courses for those fashion businesses interested in developing eco-friendly and ethical products.
Further initiatives will be launched at the next AltaRoma event in July 2009.
Video Transcript:
Ilaria Venturini Fendi: I think it would be interesting to start talking about how my project started from the very beginning, because Carmina Campus is just one branch of what I have been doing in the last few years. As you can understand from my surname, I was born into a family that has been creating fashion products for generations. I myself worked into the family business when I was very young. This was indeed my previous job before I went back to the world of fashion with the Carmina Campus brand. In between the two things I became an agricultural entrepreneur. So I’m going to tell you how my life has changed in the last 5 or 6 years. There was a point in my life when I understood I really needed to change something. Maybe this need came from the fact that I had just had a baby or maybe I was looking for some time for myself. Working into a creative job is a very beautiful thing, but in the fashion world everything is regulated by precise rhythms and this can be very stressful. I was brought up with the fashion seasons and as you know they are very different from the natural seasons. I got to a point in my life when I decided the moment had come to change something and try something different. I’ve always been passionate about nature and always loved the countryside and when I discovered this agricultural business that I now manage and which is based in Rome, in the Veio Park, I decided the time was ripe for change, also because being born into the world of fashion I had seen my mother, her sisters, my sisters and myself as well working into a job regulated by a mechanism that could swallow you and not grant you a single moment to stop and think. I used to work on a collection and when that collection was finished there was no time for stopping and taking a break, but the next day I had to start working on the next collection. In the end I decided to take back my time and bought the agricultural business. I therefore settled upon changing my life radically and I must admit that at the time I never thought I would have gone back to my previous job. At the time the farm lands I had bought were overused and I didn’t know what to do with them yet. Then, little by little, I started working, doing some courses and trying to educate myself, grasping at least the initial notions I needed to start the job. My love for the land made me understand what I really wanted to do with this business. The lands were overused, so I let the grounds rest and started a land rotation system. Then I opted for a conversion from a conventional regime to an organic system; I’ve actually been working following the organic system for quite a few years now. I have followed today other speakers who talked about their own experiences and I think my job touched in part also their fields. In fact I started studying eco-friendly and sustainable techniques that can be used in the renovation of historical villages and areas. I discovered that it’s not easy to put these studies into practice nowadays since bureaucracy is still slow and some studies are not easily approved by the local authorities. So during a particularly long winter when the land was resting and bureaucracy blocked further developments, almost without realising it, my old job came back into my life and I started designing bags using recycled materials, old bits and pieces that I would find by chance in warehouses. I used the experience I had gained in the past and applied it to these new bags, combining it with values that I think also the world of luxury products has forgotten. From the bags I moved onto interior design objects, pieces of furniture and jewels. Antonio Mancinelli: Did you designed them always following your “recycling philosophy”?
Ilaria Venturini Fendi: Yes, I always kept this philosophy in mind. I think that the 5-6 years I dedicated to different activities with different rhythms from those ones that regulate the world of fashion, brought back into my old job a different awareness. I think I have been very lucky as I discovered I could afford the luxury of changing not only my job, but my entire lifestyle. We often talk about sustainable fashion, but I think we are at the point when we must apply a change in different contexts. I’m not an economist or an expert, but we know this is the truth, this is what we need to do. I hope my experience can be an example also for what regards a new sort of craftsmanship, a new fashion that is generated in a different way.
Antonio Mancinelli: There is still another aspect of your job, an ethical aspect I would say as you have a group of women who work for you, can you tell us more about it?
Ilaria Venturini Fendi: I combined my love for nature and sustainability with ethical values and projects. I can see among the audience Simonetta Gianfelici from AltaRoma and I must thank them because they gave me the chance to get in touch with the International Trade Centre, an agency of the United Nations, that took charge of my project and will take it forward in a quicker way and with the proper regulations. Antonio Mancinelli: You have also been travelling recently to develop your projects, haven’t you?
Ilaria Venturini Fendi: Yes, I’ve been to Cameroon where there is a group of women working for Carmina Campus. The king of the small town we visited gave us as a present a piece of land where we will start a workshop with the help of INTRACEN and of the United Nations and contribute to developing local craftsmanship projects.
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