The Muse
I LOVE rule breakers. That's probably because I'm too much of a pansy to ever really break any myself, so I have to live vicariously. My version of "doing it my way" is usually starting a sentence or two with "And." Pathetic, I know.
So when I run into someone who decides to challenge the norm, I get an uncontrollable urge to give credit where credit is due.
Behind the Bars, sterling silver wire and beads chocker
Looking at Eleonora Milano's jewelry is like a brainteaser. You can't tell where the piece starts or where it ends, and it presents shapes and forms that I've simply never seen before.
Medusa, sterling silver scarf necklace
Cotton Candy, sterling silver ring
"When you work with jewelry, you use your brain in a different way. You know what you have to do technically, yet you also have to allow your mind to flow. It becomes rather intuitive after a while," she says.
As a self-taught artisan, Milano would use tools in ways they weren't meant for, and was often told by her supplier that a certain material is not meant for the purposes she wants. "But I get my way," she says with a laugh.
As a consultant for Ceramic Tiles of Italy, she is no stranger to design. But it was only recently that she started taking her jewelry design more seriously than as just a self-taught hobby. She is training to become a silversmith and studies with a number of different teachers, not secluding herself to one class or one way of thinking.
"It's about my own research, and my own fun. I'm not interested in following a specific path like that," she says of her schooling. With continuing education at SVA, FIT, and Pratt, she certainly has the big names to back up her designs, but today, Milano chooses to study at a small studio near her home in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
On Feb. 12, from 5-9 p.m. she will be collaborating with Liloveve -- a jewelry studio AND art gallery where she takes classes and rents space and equipment -- to present a collective of artists who are interpreting a common theme of love.
Twenty-nine artists have been selected to display their works in "Art about Love," seven of them jewelry designers. The other pieces will vary from paintings to collages and photography, but Milano says they received submissions from a variety of medias and “types” of affection. Some chose to address the love between a mother and child, others portray sensual love, and some illustrated their version of a melancholy love. Passed the event, all pieces will be on display for about five weeks and on sale.
Milano's background in arts administration (she has a degree in economics with a specialization in economics for arts, culture, and communications from the University Bocconi in Milan) is helping in the event's promotion and organization as co-curator. "I studied the museum management side of it," she explains.
"I'm very interested in the contrast and balance of things." But she also goes for the shock value by creating asymmetrical pieces that still have their own balance and can be worn in a variety of ways. Part of this approach involves making the clasp (usually hidden in jewelry) center stage. Her clasps are actually representations of her logo, which is her initials woven together.
Ely Milano logo, often used as a clasp, as it is on the Arizona necklace below:
Cielo A Pecorelle, sterling silver, one way of wearing the necklace
Cielo A Pecorelle, sterling silver, another way of wearing it
These days she's experimenting with rougher opals and sees a revival of not only vintage works being presented in the jewelry world, but also sees the green trend happening in tiles (and all of design for that matter) moving over too. "People are just becoming more conscious of where this stuff is coming from," she says of her fellow jewelry designers.
But whatever trends might come and go, Milano will always keep one thing the same: she'll follow her own path. And make beautiful pieces that are not just comfortable, but also enhance the physical characteristics of the wearer.
~AnnMarie Marano, web editor
