Simona Iacovazzi

Perlamadre Design

Jewellery maker

©Jacopo Bullo

©Lorenza Cini

©DS Photography

©Lorenza Cini

Reviving the alchemy of glass jewellery

Simona creates colourful glass jewels
She hadn’t planned to become a perlera
Venice, sealife and glass inspire her

Being a Venetian "perlera" means working with fire (a torch or lamp, not a furnace) to make colourful glass beads and create precious jewels, and Simona Iacovazzi does just that. She arrived in Venice from southern Italy (her beloved Salento) as a young restorer, and she specialised in stone and papier-mâché, but soon after taking part in a lampwork course, she fell in love with this ancient craft. Simona then spent a couple of years in a Murano furnace, where she was educated in every glass technique. In 2012 she decided to open her own business, Perlamadre, with her Venetian partner Evelina Pescarolo. Here Simona carries out every phase of the creative process – from the original design of the jewels to putting together the secret wisdom of the Venetian tradition with her contemporary taste.

Interview

©Ester Stella Carbonetti

©Lorenza Cini

What kind of material is glass?: It’s so stimulating, it has both huge potential and strong limits. It’s unstable: its value is in its fragility. It gives you a great creative freedom, yet it shows you the way. You have to watch it and listen to its sounds without preconceptions – in a dialogue.
What do you like most in lampworking?: Working with fire is primordial: it hypnotises you. This technique is somehow therapeutic and relaxing. Also, fire can be dangerous and it’s a hard job, which demands complete attention, but it is also a very sophisticated craft, technically speaking. And it’s alchemic, as well.
What are your sources of inspiration?: First of all, Venice and its relationship with water: the lagoon, rowing, the colours of sealife. Also, deep-sea fishing in southern Italy, where I was born. Japanese culture is endlessly fascinating. And glass itself: for example, I experiment with some old kind of glass abandoned in furnaces.
Is this craft in danger nowadays?: We face many problems. It is a niche that is threatened by the so-called overtourism: tourists have to be educated. And traditionally this was a men’s world, but today women have a creative revitalising influence. There’s space for different kinds of knowledge.

Simona Iacovazzi is an expert artisan: she began her career in 2010