“Two years and half ago, I decided to listen to that voice and now if someone ask me ‘Elena, what does happiness means for you?’ I am finally able to give an answer. Happiness is the freedom to be yourself.”
S: Can you share more about your upbringing – where you are from and what brought you to this island (Bali)?
E: I come from a small medieval village surrounded by hills in the center of Italy. I couldn’t really appreciate the beauty of the place where I was living, for me it wasn’t enough and I was already planning to move to Rome as soon as possible. It happened when I was eighteen. I spent seven years there, during which I got a degree in Marketing and Communication and I worked for an important advertising agency. Whenever I could, I was travelling around the world — I visited more than 20 countries in my life. Travelling for me is the best way to know yourself: being in contact with different cultures, push yourself in extreme conditions, be able to break certain rules and preconceptions you carry from the society you come from… well, it really changed my way of thinking about life and the entire world. Trip after trip, I started to become fascinated by that simple life I was experiencing in remote villages, along riversides and around hidden temples I visited.
"After Rome my ambition brought me to Milan, to work for the fashion industry. I was really focused on my career at that time, working hard and long hours per day, forgetting about my self too often. Those three years were essential to make me move to Bali and for this reason I will be always grateful for that experience, even if it wasn’t simple at all. I realized that the price I was paying to achieve my objectives was too high. That to fit in the society I was living in, I had to put to cover myself in so many layers- made by roles, expectations, insecurity and the need to demonstrate something to me and people around me. I quickly lost the contact with my self, with my Nature and the spontaneous way I used to be. My mind was stuck, I started to have lack of air and an uncontrollable desire to escape from a life that the system told me to lead. After my last trip in Asia – this time in Bali – on the flight back home I felt like the island was giving me a message, asking me to come back as soon as possible."
S: What is your perspective about a connection between human and nature?
E: I love this question. Nature is where we come from, it surrounds us and is within us. We are Nature. I got in contact with this concept already during my trips but I really understood the real meaning when I moved to Bali. Being in such a strong connection every day with the Nature, made me go back to my true self, the one I lost during my ‘previous life’ as I like to call my life in Italy.
"So, a kind of regression that basically means evolution. Because, just if we are in contact with ( our ) Nature we can really understand, improve and empower ourselves. I would never draw my first collection of jewelry if I couldn’t experience this enlightening process. That’s why my label is called tredici.zerodue, which in Italian means thirteen of February, the date when I moved to Bali."
S : A connection between you and tredici.zerodue?
E : As I always say, tredici.zerodue jewels is not just a brand but it’s a way to be. My pieces are small, precious declarations of femininity, freedom, passion, desire, independence, strength. I am not really interested to create just adornments rather powerful objects, with a meaning and a story behind which I would love to transfer and share to all the women who decided to wear them.
“I am an aesthete, I feel inspired from the beauty in all its shapes. From Nature to human beings and their countless arts.”
S: What makes you feel most alive?
E: Of course from one of my biggest passions: Music. Especially for experimental, ambient and electronic music.
E: I (we) belong to the sky, to the sun, to the oceans, to the entire world. Anytime I am in the nature and I take a moment for myself, I stay in silence, I close my eyes and I can feel a warm hug embracing my soul. Doesn’t matter if I had a good or a bad day. That is the sweetest feeling ever, that is pure love.
S: Tell me how was it being witnessed by sky, sun, and the oceans which are two centuries old?
