Some say that nostalgia isn’t a good feeling because it makes us look at our past. But the past, present and future are deeply related. We can’t build a present without our past experiences.

Nostalgia is described as a sentimental longing or wistful affection for a period in the past. Little do we know that a lot of the decisions we make in the present are based in what we learned to appreciate and love in the past.

I am happy to show you ILHA, my newest project and one of my biggest so far. I started designing this collection back in 2020 and we went into the production phase and I thought that something that was so important to me couldn’t be represented in only 5 pieces of jewellery.This collection was something deeper than that. 

ILHA means island in Portuguese. It’s definitely a nostalgic feeling that always comes back because I love it so much. Back in 2017 I started spending more time on a few islands that I really enjoy and I created a vision of what that means in terms of design, colours, materials, feelings and lifestyle. Everything is intertwined and the concept for this collection was brewing for a long time.

With every creative project sometimes you have the right pieces but you don’t know how to connect them and it takes time to bring new ideas to life.
That’s one of the reasons why time is so valuable because by having the time to explore new concepts and analyze them, you can rehearse what you had imagined.

My goal as an artist and a designer is to dig deep into what I enjoy doing. I have no interest on presenting  several collections in a year because that isn’t my natural creative pace.I personally think that taking the time to do anything well is the most valuable thing you can do.

Taking the time makes you realize that there is more to something than you thought. Time, nostalgia and building a beautiful future brought me to ILHA.

Enjoy!

Cyntia Miglio.