218 DOMESTIC BLING

Venezuelan Cynthia Vilchez Castiglioni lives with her Italian husband, Giovanni, and two children in a tranquil, 1500s convent inMilan’s historic centre. Their house, however, explodes with colour and reveals their passion for mid-century design. The couple are the creatives behind Aliita, a jewellery line. Clients are often welcomed into their home studio to see their works, only fitting since it’s inMilan’s ancient gold district

For the colours of her home in Milan, Cynthia Vilchez Castiglioni chose the elegant tones of the city. But in her heart, she still keeps the colours of the Carnival of Maracaibo. Born and brought up in Venezuela, she says «if there’s one thing I miss about my native land, it would be Carnival». Festivals and masks. «And the spontaneity of the people»: a spontaneity she says it’s difficult to find here. That’s easy to understand; for her, Milan is simply a place for work, in these narrow, dark streets behind Piazza Affari where the atmosphere of history is mixed with a certain stiffness. She lives in part of a former sixteenth-century convent that’s entered by passing through an internal courtyard with a water pool that invites contemplation. It’s absolutely silent here; there’s traffic outside, but it’s irrelevant. Instead there’s only the clatter of many highly polished shoes, worn by people who keep their eyes to the ground as they head for their offices, where they’ll remain until late. The interesting thing about this area of Milan is that historically, it has also always been the goldsmithing quarter. The goldsmiths are still active today, hidden away in workshops amongst these offices filled with brokers and lawyers. «It was only after I came here that I found out about the goldsmiths, to my great pleasure», she says in her Spanish accent. She first came to Italy to study and never went back to Venezuela. «I worked in the fashion business for a few years and then when I was pregnant with Sebastiano, I went to live with my mother on the island of Aruba in the Netherlands Antilles. Before leaving, I sought out one of these goldsmiths and asked him to make me a pendant in the shape of a little house. For me, at that particular moment, it was a symbol of the family». Today that “casita” pendant is the best-selling piece in her collection. It’s made from thin gold threads with elemental designs, natural stones, and delicate sculptural shapes: a well-mannered minimalism that’s all the rage with her Japanese clients. «Japan is our strongest market, and we’re about to open a pop-up store there. I like working with the Japanese because they’re so demanding, and so careful about details». And in fact, every aspect of her Aliita jewellery is treated with the greatest of care, from the packaging to the display boxes that she and her friend, the designer Haidyne Azevedo, make together and that are always different. She also works with her husband Giovanni (the son of Consuelo Castiglioni, founder of the Marni fashion brand). The couple have two children: Sebastiano, who’s three and a half, and Leopoldo, who’s just over a year old. The building where they live belongs to Giovanni’s family: «it’s listed and you’re not allowed to make structural changes. That was partly why when we moved in we restricted ourselves to simply personalising it». All the walls were white but all the furniture had to be procured, so as design enthusiasts with a penchant for the mid-twentieth century, they dealt with matters in their own way by beginning to collect vintage pieces. «The Tulip came from my grandmother» says Giovanni. In the studio there’s a table they composed themselves by combining the legs from the Tecno T102 table, designed by Borsani, with a top made from Bardiglio marble. There are also one or two things from Venezuela: old Rosenthal vases and a basket of