Set in the perfect Oltrarno-style location, which could just as easily be found in Berlin’s Mitte or Manhattan’s Lower East Side, you come across the new jewellery workshop Officine Nora housed in an old precision mechanic’s space. The industrial windows are only partly transparent, allowing curious passersby the possibility to peek but encouraging them to enter to find out the full story.
The first impression once you cross the threshold into Officine Nora is one of a positive contrast between the luminous lightness of the creations in the store area and the heaviness of vices, metal and tools weighing down on top of iron workbenches.
Officine Nora is neither a company nor a brand, but a shared work/shop for contemporary jewellery makers and lovers. Set up by Florentine Margherita de Martino Norante, now five other designers, international and Italian, work at Officine Nora, sharing the workspace as well as exchanging ideas, experiences and skills. The uniting factor? The concept that jewellery doesn’t only have to be decorative; it can also be a conveyor of style. The materials don’t necessarily need to be precious and prized, yet they can become both through the metamorphosis of the maker process.
More workstations will be added soon, available on a short-term basis to reap the benefits of the many Officine Nora workshops and develop co-jewellery projects, or maybe just for the time needed to make that bracelet in your mind’s eye.
What’s next? Plenty. A much-anticipated launch at Milan’s international furniture fair (Salone del Mobile di Milano) and an open day for Valentine’s Day to personalize a heartfelt gift for your loved one.
Via dei Preti 2-4R
Tel. 055/9758930
The designers at Officine Nora are Margherita de Martino Norante, Arata Fuchi, Valentina Caprini,
Martina Lončar, Francesca Zanuccoli and Kellie Riggs.
store opening hours:
Mon / Wed / Fri: 3.30-7.30pm
Tue / Thu: 10am-1pm
Open at other times on request
