Venezia da Vivere’s tips for discovering the secret Venice of ateliers, sartorial boutiques, sustainable fashion, and design
A guide to the Atelier Aperti by Venezia da Vivere, featuring sustainable ateliers and boutiques in Venice dedicated to the life of the planet: upcycling and reuse, natural materials, and a new generation of Venetian artisans—born here or moved here for the love of the city on the water—who enhance and promote its ancient artisanal tradition with a touch of innovation and international flair.
1. Ramosalso, the intelligence of upcycling
Sartorial style and creativity in upcycling. In Demis Marin‘s atelier, fashion plays with beloved garments and transforms them into new creations.
Ties, remnants from haute couture houses, forgotten scarves, and oversized jackets are reworked with Demis’s unmistakable timeless style.
Ramosalso, Rialto Market, Calle del Bo, San Polo 838
info@ramosalso.com
2. Alessandra Micolucci, organic fashion
“Craftsmanship characterizes every stage of production: the garments are made with organic and/or biological fabrics such as nettle, hemp, linen, and cotton, sourced from Italian producers of natural fiber yarns. Each piece is tailored and painted by hand, one by one, line by line, dot by dot: this gives the garments a unique identity.” The brand by young Venetian designer Alessandra Micolucci is a tribute to femininity through its fit, shapes, lines, and comfort, in total respect of nature.
Alessandra Micolucci, Calle Priuli 3803, Cannaregio Venice
lamicolucci@gmail.com
3. Lara Perbellini, tailoring for gentlemen
Lara Perbellini‘s men’s tailor shop is a jewel among Venice’s jewels: located in front of one of the most beautiful churches in Venice, the Church of Miracoli, Lara creates custom-made garments with natural, high-quality materials, staying true to traditional men’s tailoring and historical cutting techniques.
Every element, from the buttonhole to the inner lining, is hand-sewn, adding the unique and timeless value of the sartorial art that dresses and follows the anatomy of the body. In this way, tailoring becomes sustainability.
Lara Perbellini, Campiello dei Miracoli, Cannaregio 6075/A
tailor@laraperbellini.com
4. Valeria Boncompagni, the art of lost wax
“Working with wax allows you to stay in touch with your most intimate emotions and give them shape.” Artist and artisan Valeria Sacchi Boncompagni chose Venice, her mother’s birthplace, to live and build her career.
Trained in the family jewelry business, which has been in Piazza San Marco for three generations (founded by her grandfather Icilio Boncompagni in the 1920s), Valeria creates jewelry in her workshop using the ancient lost-wax technique: pendants, rings, and brooches are wearable micro-sculptures made of precious metals, with coral and semi-precious stone inlays.
Valeria Boncompagni, Piazza San Marco 130
valeriasacchi7@gmail.com
5. Paperoowl, paper magic
Paper design and jewelry: precious works of art made from unique, hand-printed, marbled, or screen-printed papers from all over the world. A selection of fine materials mixed with colors, folds, and details. This is the project of Stefania Giannici, creator of a brand with ancient origins. Stefania expertly shapes paper to create jewelry, decorations, home decor, and stationery.
Here you can find small boxes, envelopes, notebooks, gift items, and furnishings, up to the incredible paper pearl necklaces: beautiful, colorful or minimalist, and extremely lightweight.
Paperoowl, Rio Marin, Santa Croce 821
info@paperoowl.com
6. Materialmente, metal and glass as language
A Venetian atelier develops research that spans home decor, jewelry, lighting, and sculpture. Maddalena Venier and Alessandro Salvadori bring to life a shared practice where craftsmanship approaches sculpture and maintains an intimate dimension made of gestures, time, and observation.
In the workshop at Giudecca, iron, brass, and copper are worked by hand. Cutting, bending, and welding define the forms, while oxidation and burnishing create chromatic variations and reflections. Glass and light enter the project as elements of color and refraction.
Sculptures, lamps, objects, and jewelry evoke natural forms and landscapes. A practice that contributes to preserving ironworking, part of Venice’s production history, through production in unique pieces and small series
In the exhibition space at the Mercerie, between San Marco and Rialto, sculptures, jewelry, and objects in metal and glass take shape before the public.
Gallery, Merceria San Salvador, San Marco 4850
Workshop, Calle del Forno 465c, Giudecca
+39 041 5286881
materialmentevenezia@gmail.com
7. Giuliana Longo, the Master of the art of hat-making
Milliner Giuliana Longo carries on the family trade started in 1901. In her workshop in San Salvador, she crafts and sells hats of every type and origin.
Custom-made and personalized headwear in infinite varieties: straw, fabric, felt, for women and men, colorful and innovative tricorne hats, and the traditional straw-woven gondolier hat with double satin trim for summer or in black cloth with a pom-pom for winter.
Panama, Cuenca, and Montecristo hats can also be found. In fact, the owner travels to Ecuador in person every year to choose the best hats for her beloved historic shop.
Giuliana Longo, Calle del Lovo, San Marco 4813
8. The 2091 community
2091 by Giorgia Starace is an artisanal brand of limited-edition clothing and accessories where production consists of very few pieces per model and fabric. In Campo San Polo, the concept store also serves as a meeting point for a Venetian community of creative people, where they dress, laugh, choose clothes, and share passions and projects.
Giorgia selects quality fabrics and designs essential lines that leave it to color and prints to make each garment a small treasure, handmade by Italian tailors and artisans. You can customize clothes and accessories by choosing fabrics, patterns, and measurements.
The shoes are designed for walking in Venice all day: beautiful, comfortable, and strictly Made in Italy.
2091 at San Polo 2091
2091.venezia@gmail.com
9. Perlamadre, design jewelry in Murano glass
Every single bead is handmade, or rather, made by the hands of designer Simona Iacovazzi, originally from Salento, who chose Venice for her love of the art of Murano glass.
Her creations are born from passion, research, and the study of traditional Murano glass lampworking techniques with contemporary details, where the transparencies and reflections of the lagoon play with the vibrant colors of southern Italy.
Perlamadre design, Calle del fabro, Dorsoduro 3282
pmd@perlamadredesign.com
10. Meracu, ancient origins are future innovation
Everything revolves around leather, a durable and natural material that the young Venetian artisan Shanti Ganesha uses to create bags, satchels, plant holders, belts, and more, in her workshop near the Scuola Dalmata dei Greci.
Elegant, essential, and minimalist shapes, practicality, comfort, and sustainability. Each of her projects is handmade, designed to be long-lasting and environmentally friendly: from cutting to sewing, from edge finishing to the use of vegetable-tanned leather, from natural and biodegradable packaging to the donation of a portion of her proceeds to reforestation initiatives.
Meracu, Fondamenta San Giorgio dei Schiavoni, Castello 3372
info.meracu@gmail.com
Article by Lucia Pecoraro.
Photos by Settimo Cannatella, Lorenzo Cinotti, Marta Formentello, Igor Serdyukov, and Rossana Viola.
