Founded by Jewelry designer Ippolita Rostagno, Artemest aims to showcase local Italian artisans and bring their work into international homes
Artemest – founded by Ippolita Rostagno
The advocacy for art and expression has always been center stage as a responsibility for not only an artist but everyone involved, from managers, gallerists, artisans, and the sole art importer into the commercial world. Working so closely close with one medium of art can bring more attention to the other, as every medium is intertwined and connected with each other. This is where Artemest is born – the contemporary creation and curation of the things Italy has to offer, founded by Ippolita Rostagno.
Accidents often create the outcomes, and Ippolita dabbling in different forms of arts starting with dance, jewelry, fashion, and art across both Italy and the U.S.A allowed her to work towards the focal point of her career – Artemest. Artemest is an online gallery based in Milano with a newly opened space in New York City, thus creating a monetization ground for small Italian artisans curating furniture, art, sculpture, and ceramics.
Ippolita Rostagno: If I’m looking for it, chances are a thousand other people are too
«There was no life plan in the sense of going on to study something and building a career from there. My first career started in dance while growing up in Florence and was followed by studying sculpture and ceramics. After moving to New York City a few years after realizing that it would be a life of fundraising to sustain my arts, I decided to go back to explore my other interests which were art and applied art at the time. This led me to making jewelry – at a time which was interesting for the industry as it was the high time for costume and fashion jewelry, leaving almost no space for fine jewelry for everyday wear which is what I wanted. It allowed me to tap into the luxury consumer». Ippolita’s main business rule is «if i’m looking for it, chances are a thousand other people are too».
Contemporary Italian crafts become collectibles
Artemest aims to inject the public with Italian design, which is something that the North American audience tends to welcome. With Artement being the online marketplace, representing a network of over fourteen-hundred Italian Artisans, the galleria was established to explore the changing world of Italian design and learn the lasting secrets of centuries-old techniques. With a curated roaster of rotating series of exhibitions showcasing the works of niche Italian artisans through the eyes of curators and designers, Artemest is giving a chance to experience the Italian culture of art and design outside of Italy with both a virtual and physical space in American and Italy – the two places Ippolita calls home.
«Living in the United States, it’s clear that the consumer exists, and that Americans adore Italy. There is a consumer base and there is the world of craftsmanship in Italy, and it’s a problem that needs to be solved».
Artemest: passing knowledge down through generations
«Craft is able to develop and maintain tradition in the way it has within Europe because it goes back to how people lived. This tradition of passing knowledge down through generations has been maintained through centuries. But now through traveling back and forth for the past twenty years, more and more artisans are closing – once where there were thousands, now there are two. My idea was that the artisans are connected to the market, they become successful and busy that they have to bring in more people to work with them, and therefore knowledge is transferred and cultural continuity created, but there has to be a commercial step that keeps the dream alive and allows engagement in this dynamic».
The way to success: a density of artisans
The birth of Artemest in a digital society was getting the technology behind it concrete, differentiating Artemest’s digital presence from other galleries online, making it more than just a project to talk about, but a reality.
«Technology now has to be seamless and the digital experience for customers has to be well done. People were sourced, and they created this visual world that was seamless». After weeks touring through Italy with thoughts lingering about how sustainable it was to find these artisans willing to commercialize their work, the density of artisans was discovered.
With discovery came realizations and reality, one that included the fact of Artemest being able to bring branding strategy, marketing and international sales to small artisans across Italy. This discovery led to ideas of servicing the masses – but not the ones you might think. The ultimate customer of an artist is another artist – interior designers, architects and other decor-based businesses through the hospitality sector looked like a clear future for the services of these local artisans.
Beginning with sixteen artisans, now growing to over fourteen hundred, with the curation being the center stage of Ippolita’s vision, Artemest is not just a marketplace, but it’s a hand-picked under the home decor umbrella.
New York City and Milano – beauty, calmness and taste
«The need to be able to communicate our brand in person becomes clear. The mission of Artemest is to sustain craft through bringing it into this century by collaborating with artists – and with bringing these online needs product development and curation for what someone is looking for online. Once the connection was made between Artemest and the artisans of how to connect to the marketplace, it was a collaboration of bringing things online that couldn’t be sold where they were making them, but can be to our audience, which means evolving their product».
Connecting the artists with the artisans
While opening their first North American space, connecting the artists with the artisans was still the forefront of their strategy. The opening exhibition titled ‘Blow’ was a collection of one-of-a-kind Murano glass pieces created in collaboration with Caribbean born artist Bradly Theodore. Working side by side with Theordore, a selection of Murano glass masters created works of art inspired by the artist’s childhood spent in the Turks and Caicos. It’s these collaborative efforts between creatives that bring artists together to create inclusive spaces for art and design.
There are ways for Artemest to further expand in the future. With a future filled with ideas, hospitality seems like an organic next step for an expansion that fits their needs and as Rostagno states: «There is no right or wrong way to do things, it is about growing organically and bringing more to the market».
Artemest
Connecting connoisseurs everywhere in Italy, handmade products crafted by artisans: furniture, lighting, home décor, and lifestyle change in character from region to region, and each artisan in his workshop can be seen as they describe their process and worldview and founded by Ippolita Rostagno.
