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With great pleasure and pride Gioie di Carol attended the Christmas exposition “Tempo di Natale” at the Castle of Thiene on the 9th and 10th November 2018.

A beautiful successful event which is repeated every year at this ancient palace dating back to the XV century.

See you next time!

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Did you know? Cork is a very precious natural material that is obtained from the bark of a tree called cork oak, an evergreen, long-lived plant which grows in countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea.

This tree has a double bark: the internal one is called “mother” and it’s composed of fibrous and very fine tissues in which the sap flows, which has the property of generating a soft, elastic, light and spongy material: cork. This material is the result of a millennial adaptation of cork trees at risk of dehydration, very frequent in torrid Mediterranean summers. In fact, its composition guarantees waterproofing on one side and on the other a good thermal insulation, which makes the plant fire resistant. It also has countless human friendly feature: it’s anti-mite, biodegradable, non-toxic, odorless, tasteless and with very high absorption potential for carbon dioxide.

Decortication can take place every nine, ten years, when the dead cells of which cork is made are no longer indispensable for survival of the plant and would even help it to strengthen and regenerate.

The main application of cork is in the production of bottle caps, but about ⅓ of its application concerns construction to insulate walls and ceilings, the aerospace industry for the production of spacecraft components and finally the textile sector for the production of accessories, bags and shoes. And here I am to tell you how the Gioie di Carol project was born.

Jewels have a very long history and it’s known that they were worn by women already in antiquity to embellish their clothes. Over the centuries rules and traditions have been established concerning their use but which have been, and are still being revised and corrected by fashion houses and seasonal trends.

In this space I would like to help you choose the perfect jewel for your occasions, starting from the fact that the basic rule in jewelry etiquette is this: exhibit them with sobriety and good taste.

So, first of all, we specify that it’s always good not to overdo the quantity of pieces you intend to wear, precisely because the English way of saying (which we have now made our own) “less is more” is a good guarantee of elegance.

For example, rings shouldn’t be worn on several fingers of one hand, but only one, even large, particular or eccentric, but make sure that it’s the only protagonist on your right hand, and in the same way, the wedding or engagement ring in the foreground on the left hand.

In addition, if you want to give importance to a pair of large earrings it’s in good taste, even for a matter of balance, don’t wear necklaces or combine them with a very sober and thin necklace.

If you want to embellish a dress with simple lines or solid colors, you can indulge yourself with a large necklace, or with a showy pendant or perhaps studded with pearls and colored stones. Here, in this case you should coordinate it with a pair of small earrings that act as a point of light and that cover the holes in the lobes. Also pay attention to the shape of the neckline of the dress or shirt, trying not to overlap the length of the necklace with the profile of the garment, but following it.

The famous jewelry sets are composed of various pieces coordinated in shape, style and colors, that is, necklace, earrings, bracelet and ring that can all be worn at the same time. I don’t recommend you to do that because the final result could be rather heavy on the eye and, in the end, an etiquette rule in use now only to queens and princesses. But what we mere mortals can do is stop at three. In fact, it seems that it’s the perfect number to not appear too eccentric: then choose whether to combine the earrings with a bracelet and ring, or the necklace with the earrings and bracelet and so on, based on your outfit.

Still on the subject of sobriety, morality suggests that we wear semi precious stones, such as agate, aquamarine or corals, during the day and reserve diamonds, rubies, sapphires and other precious stones for evening occasions . Except for the diamond, however, whose daytime use has recently been cleared through customs thanks to the consolidated tradition of giving your loved one a solitaire or a Riviera ring, which mount small caliber stones.

Lastly, avoid wearing jewels and bijoux at the sea and in the swimming pool because the salt, sand, sweat or chlorine would certainly ruin them. And speaking of care and custody of jewels I will talk about it soon in another article.

Gioie di Carol project was born from the idea of an alternative use of cork stoppers to create absolutely original, colorful and large-sized jewels, but, however, very wearable just because of its important peculiarity, namely lightness.

So how are my bijoux made? The cork stopper is cut and painted by hand,  and transformed into a component as a substitute for pearls and pendants. Obviously, the combination with crystals and colored stones never fails because the mood that characterizes me is surrounding myself with colors and glitters just like a Wood Magpie.

After a great success of this kind of bijoux, I widened my interest towards the cork fabric, also called vegetable leather, for the creation of small clutch bags.

In addition, I attended the leather goods course held by the leather goods master Salvatore Nicosia, which allowed me to learn the techniques of designing and creating a bag and above all it brought me closer to the fantastic world of leather.

Even today, my jewelry and fashion accessories combine the easy, ecological and light soul of cork with the warm, chic and comfortable style of leather, which often comes from surpluses of the fashion industry.

Follow me on the social networks Instagram and Facebook and if you also have a Gioie di Carol creation share photos using hashtags

#Gioiedicarol and #acorkaffair.