Previously head accessory designer for Rochas, Natalia Brilli now specializes in leather. Frustrated with the bondage connotation the material sometimes has, her mission is to make it “noble” again and her technique consists of intricately sheathing objects ranging from pearl necklaces to entire drum kits entirely by hand. We met her in her showroom in the Marais, as she presented her latest collection, to talk cow-skin, it-bags and her passion for American history.
ELLE: What taboo about leather are you trying to break?
NB: I don’t think there’s a taboo around leather, but an image with a vulgar connotation; when used in jewelry, it is often associated with S&M or rock n’roll. I want to make leather a noble material again, and escape the imagery that tends to be linked to it, by using its technical possibilities to the maximum.
ELLE: What specific techniques are you using on leather?
NB: It is a ‘sheathing’ technique which requires a lot of patience and precision and which can only be done by hand. No machine is involved in the process nor can achieve such a result; it is the human hand that allows for such a unique process.
ELLE: The theme of your collection is ‘Native American’. How do you make this original and Brilli-like when so many designers, Pamela Love amongst others, have used the same inspiration?
NB: The theme of Native America is part of the history of a continent, but is also, through its importance and richness a universal theme; it is therefore normal that lots of designers are inspired by it, every season—especially in the summer, it seems to be a recurring theme. I’ve always been fascinated by the history of the United States, but from the perspective of a European watching Westerns; I had visions of plains, buffalos, forests with bears, clichés of course, but also novels by Jim Harrison, in other words an eternal America that a European can fantasize about.
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