hat I care about and believe in. The jewels' design on one hand reveal goth-punk influences and on the other include a number of condom-shaped elements: this formal choice derives from the intention to emphasize and underline the importance of prevention and self+others protection, the core to my view. I have hence decided to create a small jewelry collection and will devolve a percentage of our incomes to NGOs related to my beliefs.
Another of my main urgencies derives from living in a discrimination-free society, in terms of gender, sexual orientation, religion beliefs, skin color (as other identities in general): all of the pieces are genderless and/or cross-gender, always with a special eye on sustainability, reason why they are handmade in Italy by local artisans and all of the packaging is 100% compostable, made with grape harvest scraps. A card, which is part of the packaging, shows logo printed in braille alphabet too.
ETHEREAL:
“What is happiness? The feeling of power raising, of resistance being defeated. […] and an extreme decision was presented to the Old God: mankind has become scientific, there is nothing else to do, it must be drowned!”
The Antichrist, Friedrich Nietzsche, 1895
ETHEREAL takes inspiration from various elements, linked together by the red thread of self-determination.
In his ‘The Antichrist’, Nietzsche ponders upon the deep meaning of being a virtuous man (as per virtus), as well as the contrast of humans provided with scentia (knowledge) against ignorantia, perpetuated for centuries and mostly promoted from Christian Church, which gains its power upon fear and focuses on sins over happiness, self-determination and self-realisation.
The link with the Bible came spontaneously, focusing on Angels’ Hierarchy and upon their accurate description, utterly unlike mutual imagination, but nevertheless still portraited as ‘beings’, entities, something not defined, without the need to be, often developing and volatile: it exists and it lasts.
Self-determination, mutability, growth, but also deep self-acceptance are hold tight, in my opinion, by Drag artists, at least in the modern society, moreover by Drag Kings.
Drag Kings not only embrace their gender identity/ies, they change, transform, look for themselves and on top of all that, they rise a strong social claim, embracing feminine strength and masculine kindness.
With art and performance they promote a non-toxic masculinity. Drag Art leaves behind genders’ social definition, prejudice and bias against femininity and masculinity, they mix them together creating a world custom-made for everybody.
Furthermore, Drag Kings take advantage of scentia in order to joke about toxic characters and to open to public debate, to unveil social - related issues and actively transform our society into a better inclusive future.
This is VIRTUS.