"I started this out of loneliness, now it's bringing people together:" Alighieri founder on shaping communities from gold

In an interview that appears in the London Fashion Week official digital handbook, Alighieri founder Rosh Mahtani speaks to Chloe Street about her waxy sculptures and finding light in the dark
Chloe Street12 June 2020

“For me it’s a kind of therapy, a way of processing what’s going on in my head and whatever is going on around me,” says Alighieri founder Rosh Mahtani of her unconventional jewellery-making process, which begins by forming shapes from molten candle wax on a surface using “very rudimentary tools.”

Jewellers have meticulously carved solid wax to make designs for casting for centuries, but using the material in such a free form, organic way as Mahtani does is entirely new, and results in pieces that are original and unusual for their imperfect, distressed almost unfinished-feeling forms. “For me I’ve always loved playing, not abiding by any conventional rules, it’s been very liberating,” says the London-based designer.

A self-taught jeweller with a clear vision, Mahtani set out to create perfectly imperfect pieces that each tell a story. After some initial trouble convincing her chosen Hatton Garden caster of her vision, Mahtani launched her brand single-handedly and without investment in 2014. Six years on and Alighieri is a global business with 14 employees, stocked in 105 stores worldwide. Ordinarily based out of a studio in Hatton Garden, Alighieri is today one of the aforementioned caster’s biggest clients.

Rosh Mahtani, founder of Alighieri
Alighieri

The seeds of the business originated however from a period of emotional crisis.

Graduating from Oxford University with a degree in French and Italian in 2012, Mahtani felt “super lost,” and was struggling with depression. Finding solace in the pages of 14th-century Florentine poet Dante’s Divine Comedy, she was inspired to start making a piece of jewellery for each of his 100 poems. One of the first was a medallion modelled on a lion the Italian poet encounters in the first canto of the Inferno.

“I made it just for myself initially, to remind me to be courageous… and it’s ended up being the core of the entire brand and is still the bestselling piece today.”

Alighieri

Mahtani, who has spent lockdown fulfilling orders from her apartment, regards her work less as brand building and more that of shaping a community. Customers often tell her about the special life events they are marking with a purchase or a gift, or why they personally are looking for courage when they buy a medallion. “I started this out of a place of loneliness and now its bringing people together and creating dialogue, propelling the idea that’s its ok to be vulnerable, its ok to have difficult times, it’s ok to open up… for me that’s where the pride and enjoyment comes from.”

Alighieri

Hers is cleverly priced talismanic jewellery with a purpose, and a power to unite, galvanise even, which goes some way to explaining why, during lockdown, the brand has seen 200 per cent growth in online sales. “I think that’s always what I wanted to do, create things where each piece has a story and you wear it for different reasons and it means something to you. Every society has always had that since the beginning of time, that very deep connection to talismans and amulets to protect us, to ward away evil, to represent a new relationship with someone else, to tie families together, it’s always been so rich. And that’s completely universal. And I think we need that now more than ever.”

When it comes to the future, Mahtani, who launched her first men’s collection in May 2019, is looking forward to trying new things. She’s got her eye on homeware and is considering using coloured stones for the first time in her next collection of beautifully battered bling. “I’m excited to push myself and get out of that default setting and find a new version of our language,” she reflects. “I think I’m ready for a change in some way, this period feels like a palette cleanse, now I’m ready to be a bit more experimental.”

This interview features In the London Fashion Week digital handbook. Explore more LFW content at londonfashionweek.co.uk

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