Eleonora Merlo's AtelierUtopia

Background

“In 2006, I graduated in design from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan. Then I worked in the Style Office of the company Malloni and then as a stylist in a photography studio. In 2009, I was given a scholarship to do a Master’s degree in Fashion Design at the Domus Academy in Milan. I finished that in December 2010 with a thesis I did in collaboration with Maurizio Galante and Tal Lancman. Rita Airaghi at the Fondazione Gianfranco Ferrè and Sara Maino gave me an award for that project at the end of year exhibition.”

What she does

“Currently I work on style consultations and with my brother Stefano Merlo on a project called AtelierUtopia, which is a kind of research laboratory focused on all kinds of design that we founded in 2008. We use our combined experience to carry out various design projects.”

The collection’s concept

“The name of the collection is Lightness and Body's Memory. For the feel, I got inspired by the works of Louis Bourgeois and the chapter dedicated to Lightness in Italo Calvino’s Six Memos for the Next Millennium. For the colors I took inspiration from the thick, fragile walls of the city of Venice, which are so full of memories. For the shapes, I looked at various criminal photographs of men and women taken in the 1920s and 1930s taken by the Australian police.

The concept of the collection is for me a tale that gives off feelings of lightness and memory, tied to the body and the clothes that are made the most of by layering fabrics and by paying attention to color nuances, which create volumes that are full of feminine details combined with masculine ones. The effect is a balance somewhere between strength and evanescence.”

Where would you like to see your collections sold?

"10 Corso Como, Interno31, Ivo Milan, Antonioli, Colette, Dover Street Market, Penelope and many others."

Other fashion experiences

“In November 2010, I participated in a group show with other artists in Paris called "La juste distance". On April 8 I will take my collection to Germany to participate in the European Design Awards.”

What do you expect from being published on Vogue.it? Future projects?

“I would like my work to be appreciated by those who see it and I hope that I’ve been able to transmit my influences, communicate my feelings and my passion for research and going in-depth.

I am very hopeful for the future because I still have a lot of dreams to realize and I hope that the situation in Italy improves. I definitely want to work hard and carry forward my idea of style in various ways.”

(Vogue.it)