Avant-garde jeweller Mattia Cielo doesn't do 5-year plans
The founder of the eponymous jewellery line talks about the work behind each piece, his father's influence, and needing to change direction quickly
"When I was a child, my dream was to become an astronaut. I was raised in an environment where we watched American sci-fi films and Japanese anime series on television. Maths was my favourite subject in school, so you can imagine why I found the idea of space travel so exciting. By the time university came, I decided to study finance and spent a couple of years working at a bank in London.
My first memory as a child was sorting precious stones by colour and shape on the kitchen table. My family is in the jewellery business, so the first thing they give children to do is that task. Given that I now run my own jewellery label as part of my family's business, you can say I tried to escape my family destiny but was dragged back.
My desire to join the family business started when I realised that I was just like a fancy clerk, calculating derivatives. In contrast, everyone else in my family is a businessman and entrepreneur. Every two weeks my father would ask me to join his company. So, as his only son, I decided to accept his offer to come on board.
My father's jewellery brand is commercial. He is a sponsor of Miss Italy and has a major operation that involves selling half a million pieces of jewellery per year. That said, he only sells in Italy.
So when he asked me to come back, he wanted me to help grow a company with a more global vision that would capitalise on my experience of working in Spain and England. This is how the idea for a younger brand, Mattia Cielo, was born.