A wearable Puglia is the one designed and created by Vittoria Olive, 30-year-old artist and artisan from Fasano. Sea urchins, friselle, panzerotti, prickly pear blades, trulli, taralli and pasticciotti: every identifying element of the Heel of the Boot, Valeria paints on t-shirts, onesies, shoes, tea towels, bibs, change holders. Objects made in Puglia that bear the signature of the “Puglia Addosso” brand, founded seven years ago and which has now arrived in the homes of famous people such as Vincenzo Schettini and Chiara Ferragni.
Vittoria, how was Puglia Addosso born?
«Puglia Addosso was born 7 years ago, following an initiative created for the Fasano craftsmanship exhibition. On that occasion they asked me to participate with some of my creations. However, at that moment I didn’t have anything ready to expose. So I proposed a project that would involve the children: I would help them paint subjects on a white t-shirt that represented Fasano from their point of view. Someone chose to paint a frisella, someone else a sea urchin. The children’s creations were then shown during a parade that was very popular. To the point that some of my friends and acquaintances began to ask me to make those t-shirts for them. So I started painting, upon request, Apulian subjects on wearable t-shirts.”
Was this a dream come true or did you have other plans for your future?
«Well, 7 years ago I was still living in Rome where I was finishing my last year at the Academy of Fine Arts. Once the Fasano craftsmanship exhibition ended, I returned to the capital to graduate and finally returned to Fasano where I opened a workshop – which I subsequently moved to Monopoli – to be able to work more assiduously and locally, considering the growing number of requests for my articles”.
Was it difficult to leave Rome?
«Initially it wasn’t easy. I went from a very hectic life in the city, constantly moving from one exhibition to another, to a more sedentary working life. In reality, before Puglia Addosso, I attended a three-year course in set design, I worked in the world of theater alongside actors such as Enzo Iacchetti, Alessandro Gassman. I thought I would like the world of theatre, TV or cinema. I entered it, I worked there at the same time as my studies, but then I realized that it wasn’t for me. I am passionate about art and, in particular, drawing and painting. Talents that I put to good use at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome even when I assisted a professor in the creation of some drawings which were then exhibited at the Vatican Museums. At the same time, the Apulian project was born which then took shape in the Puglia Addosso brand.”
Are you happy with your choice now?
«Yes, I was happy right from the start and I would make the same choice again now. It is my job that allows me to meet many different people and many artisans, professionals and artists. Puglia Addosso made me discover a wonderful reality, a Puglia full of talents and companies that know how and want to do things with great seriousness.”
Even though many artisan shops are closing, do you see particular attention in Apulia towards handmade goods?
“Yes definitely. My choice, for example, is to remain “small”. I decided to continue painting fabrics and objects by hand, one by one. I believe that maintaining this type of workmanship is a strength: there is no waste because I make what is requested of me and how, above all, I know how to make each object unique. Even if in some cases the subjects to be painted are the same, as they are handmade they have details and nuances that differentiate them from each other. These are items that can never be replicated in an identical way to how I create them. And then, in my opinion, personalization is the future.”
So is every Puglia Addosso item hand painted?
«Most yes. I scan my drawings or create them digitally only in the case of objects that require more aggressive washing such as tea towels, cups or bibs for children – who, moreover, clearly cannot put the color in their mouths. Instead, the t-shirts, bodysuits, shoes, clutch bags, coin holders, bread bins and so on are all hand painted.”
What are the most requested Apulian subjects?
«At the beginning the sea urchin was the must. Then we moved on to frisella also thanks to FrisellAnna by Anna Dello Russo, a project in which I participated by creating the brand’s graphics. Now the prickly pear shovel with the writing: “I’m cool” is very fashionable. But also the pasticciotto, the panzerotto, the taralli.”
The t-shirt with the writing “I’m cool” was also worn by Leone, the son of Chiara Ferragni and Fedez, and it then ended up on social media. And even Vincenzo Schettini from La Fisica che ci piace has recently published stories wearing his articles.
«Yes, I decided to give Schettini and Chiara Ferragni’s family some Puglia Addosso articles which they then chose to share on their social pages, tagging me and giving me many compliments. Ferragni published a photo with one of my bags, while her son Leone appeared in her stories many times with the “I’m cool” shirt. Then the dance choreographer Luciano Cannito and Rossella Brescia purchased various things by Puglia Addosso from a shop in Martina Franca. As well as chef Emanuele Ferrari for whom I created a shirt with taralli that he wore during a cooking video published on his channels.”
