[1] If you can dream it, you can do it ❤

Keep it close to your heart, your dream: if it seems impossible, if it makes your hands dirty, if at times it makes the pillow uncomfortable, it is the right one.

Let me tell you a story: in the mess of words, thoughts, ideas and fingers stained with ink, I will try to choose a starting point. But not just any point, I call it "happy point": that place in the universe where certainties have vanished and the magic began; that place where fatigue silenced her in a corner and I thought I heard the music in the background, even if the playlist was OFF, because someone in the next room had already been asleep for a long time.

I never would have believed that day, perhaps, it would change my life forever. It was a cold December night in Milan and VD ITALY (which at that time didn't have a name yet) knocked on my door, just above the columns of San Lorenzo. And so, one hug after another, after a few cups of coffee, my first slightly awkward and very asymmetrical jewel took shape. Suddenly, all the energy that I had trapped in the folds of my soul, manifested itself in all its strength and arrogance.

Suddenly, the silent voice and imperceptible that for 23 years I had silenced, began to whisper to me what my heart already knew but which, even today, at times the mind does not fully understand. And that very predictable future of 110 cum laude at Bocconi was no longer enough for me, because “the worst betrayal you can do to yourself is to give up what your eyes shine for”.


Let's dispel the first myth: it is not enough to create something "beautiful", which then who knows the definition of beautiful? No, "there will always be a more beautiful and perfect jewel than yours" (maybe even super chips, made in China) - but I won't dwell on this issue, I don't feel in competition with them. It must be said, however, that in the era of fast-fashion, it's not all roses: competition is fierce and sometimes disarming, but sometimes the story you tell and the soul you invest wins over the lowest price or marketing. cheeky in the style of “let's steal our customers” (so far the attempts have been quite clumsy and not very successful).

How to find an "interstitial space"? A beautiful pile of marketing and business administration books, an experience in luxury and 3 other internships, an immeasurable passion for design and harmony, in its deepest essence. A single goal: to create something different, customizable, consistent with the soul of the wearer and therefore unique in the world, which could conquer the eyes, then the minds, again the souls and finally the hearts. Easy to say, then in reality ... many questions and few certain answers.

But then, the unexpected: with a bit of luck, the first stranger contacted me and, yes, she really wanted my ASYMMETRIC and IMPERFECT earrings. An Englishman would say “unthinkable”, an American would say “wow”. I didn't believe it, trust me. With trembling hands and heart in trepidation, the first package left Milan and from that moment on, my idea of SARTORIAL JEWELERY seemed a little less abstract. Meanwhile, life continued to flow and finally the fourth stage was over and I had a "real job" in a multinational, during the day. In the evening, however, my dream continued to wait for me at the door, designing new worlds, new opportunities for my eyes. And those little caterpillars, so ugly to my eyes, unbeknownst to me were beginning to make some other woman's eyes shine. Those defects, which I hated (and against which I hit my head every day, to try to improve myself), were actually the essence, a part of the whole, because in the equation of perfection, in my case, there was no absence of defects.

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder", but some toad to swallow has also fallen to me. I still remember that icy shower, that moment in which I thought I was not enough, that I had everything wrong: that criticism at first so merciless by an unknown (and given the age perhaps a little immature), over time time has made me rise from the ashes and acquire a new awareness: imperfections are characteristic of handmade, they do not reduce its value, but rather ensure its value and authenticity. ... But this is another story and you who hurt me deserve a thank you: you made me stronger than then.

# WEARING WITH LOVE. Without realizing it, the magic had happened, and it wasn't just about me anymore. Every day a new woman came aboard and set foot in my fairy tale: together with me she began to write a new page, to involve me in her life. For the first time, I knew the power of sharing and beauty. I found a universe in the eyes of all the women I have been lucky enough to know, of all the lives I have been lucky enough to cross along the way, many of which have entered my heart and changed me. I realized that happiness is only real if you have someone to share it with.

One more change. "Take life lightly, that lightness is not superficiality, but gliding over things from above, not having boulders on your heart". Courage, I armed myself with a lot of courage, and I kept repeating to myself that "only he who dares wins". I abandoned all the certainties built with effort, time and patience and I packed yet another suitcase: an umbrella, a duvet, some cheese and lots of rhinestones. Even if on Sunday morning I feel like a couch potato sloth, I have once again come to terms with my best half: the #ValeVagabonda. To see a wonderful panorama, you have to risk dizziness: thus, a new exciting stimulus, before putting your heart to rest once again.

Londra, Notting Hill. I admit, I hadn't considered all the implications: finding new suppliers, higher costs, different currency, shipping across national borders. But here, trust me, the view is fantastic and, the more difficult the journey, the more you taste it and learn from it, new awareness. To start with, I never liked simple things, but in the early days here in London they complicated it quite a bit; if, however, you had asked me at the beginning, I would have categorically denied it.

After oiling some gears who still screeched and asked Lady Patience for help (or the patience I never had), today I can say that VD ITALY exists. It is a dream that has never resigned and today I consider it reality. It is exploration, opportunities, hours that expand, passion, obsession, poison and antidote, an eternal present, a faithful and constant companion. It is sacrifice, harmony, friendship, imagination, light after dark, a gust of wind that opens every door and window. A drug, of the good ones. It smells of poems, of kisses, of still unripe loves, of buds waiting for Spring and barely whispered words. Because beautiful things are not screamed, but are told in a whisper; because good things happen slowly.

My advice, for you who read, is this: if you still haven't found your dream, listen in silence to your heart and, when it speaks to you, go where it takes you. If, however, your dream exists, never abandon it, never lose sight of it: think about it, think about it again, let it obsess you at times, breathe it with all the air in your lungs and hold it with all the strength you find in your hands. and with the determination with which you have come this far and have not closed the article first. Think about it and let yourself be guided by that little voice, because a dream is never "too big" or "too impossible".
I do not promise you it will be simple, it will almost never be. But I know that you will keep telling yourself, during the journey, "it's worth it". If you can dream it you can do it.