The Sicis Art Mosaic Factory in Ravenna has announced in recent days the opening of new jewelry showrooms in Paris, Istanbul and Milan, so A+A thought it a good time to interview the firm’s Eleonora Milano, via email:
What is Sicis all about?
All of its products are 100 percent hand-made in Italy. Sicis manufactures high-end contemporary mosaics for wall and floor coverings, furniture and interior decorations. Sicis combines Italian creativity, aesthetic sensitivities, style, and matches a deep awareness of materials with a desire to experiment. SICIS specializes in the Artistic Mosaic Technique, in which every single piece is cut by hand and put in place by skilful mosaic masters in Ravenna. The company has created two new divisions: Sicis Next Art, for furniture and interior design objects, and Sicis Jewels, consisting of precious jewels and watches marked by the unique setting of thousands of nano-tesserae in gold, precious gems and micromosaic.
Who are its designers?
For furniture, the Italian artist Carla Tolomeo, pupil of De Chirico; Christian Lacroix, who was inspired by Byzantine times and Ravenna’s historical importance; Aida Cappellini & Giovanni Licheri, two famous Italian set designers; and Hirsch Bedner Associates. In terms of jewelry, we are collaborating with Roger Thomas and Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas.
Where are its showrooms?
Sicis has showrooms all over the world, in Europe we are in Milan, Rome, Paris, Bruxelles, Madrid. We have a large showroom in Soho, and in Tokyo, New Delhi, Istanbul, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Seoul. In Paris, Istanbul and Milan we also present the precious collections of Jewels and Watches, by Sicis Jewels and Sicis O’clock, entirely hand-crafted in Italy using the ancient technique of micro and nano-mosaic, combined with gold, platinum, diamonds, pearls and precious stones. We are about to open a showroom in Beijing which will present the best selection of mosaic in glass and marble and furniture, and next year we’ll have the jewelry and watches boutique in New York as well.
Where does your inspiration come from?
SICIS masters drew inspiration from the antique tradition of micro mosaics and revived it in a contemporary form, transmitting ancient emotions through contemporary jewels. SICIS Jewels are inspired by nature, flowers, animals, landscapes, and by ancient art and history, too. Some of jewels and watches are inspired by Roman labyrinths, by Byzantine Empress Theodora, who used to be a very modern figure for that time and is considered to be the Sicis inspirational muse), by ancient aqueduct systems and by laurel leaves worn by the Romans. Consider that Sicis is located in the heart of the mosaic capital city of the world, Ravenna, which is a city protected by UNESCO for the amount of mosaic and art heritage to be protected.
What can it promise its customers? Why?
Most of our work is done by hand in our ateliers in Ravenna and by controlling every single step of the making process we can guarantee a high quality product, may it be an artistic gold mosaic panel, a sculpture chair, a parure in diamonds and micro-mosaic or a time piece in nano-mosaic in a limited edition. Our jewelry is unique, precious, luxurious, colorful, and distinguishable.
For more information, go to http://www.sicis.com/.