The designer

I first started making jewelry using polymer clay and one very popular way to work with this medium is called the “millefiori” technique. In Italian it means “a thousand flowers”; this process was mainly used as a decorative pattern for the venetian glassware and it looks like plenty of little flowers next to each other on a surface. I visited some glass workshops in Murano where the millefiori originated from and I was very impressed by the details and meticulousness in the process which are very dear to my personal work as well. Here are some examples of traditional millefiori beads in glass on the left and one of my early creation using polymer clay on the right.

For my first craft fair in Paris in 2005, I had to fill in “artist’s name” and since my first name is Virginie and my main polymer clay technique was the millefiori I thought it sounded right and I wrote down “Virginie Millefiori”. Since then I completely shifted my medium to metal and don’t using polymer clay for my jewelry, only sometimes to create displays, but I still keep that very first artist name that gave birth to my little company as a tribute to this traditional artisanal technique dear to my heart.

1. So I have a favorite number, it is 23, don’t ask why.
2. I was born on May 2nd, yes I am a taurus and yep, stubborn 😉
3. I am insectophobic, especially all the flying stuff, really don’t like that.
4. I have awkwardly short first knuckles on my forefingers.
5. I have a severe addiction to dark chocolate.
6. I am overly empathetic so please if you have news to share with me, make sure they’re good and don’t invite me to watch that tragic movie or you’ll be embarrassed to death seeing that giant pile of tissues sitting next to you.
7. I walk super fast, someone told me the other day that I walk like I am 6’5 (and I am 5’3).
8. I love all kinds of animals (except insects of course) and I am overly cuddly with them, a bit like Mafalda you know.
9. The only sports I can bear to watch on TV are ice-skating and dance skating (no judging please).
10. I used to be fluent in German (daughter of two former German teachers) but almost lost it all after not practicing for over 10 years.
11. I can’t smoke and I won’t anyway (yes I am still French).
12. I know by heart the entire Disney movie Alice in Wonderland.
13. I am disturbingly lucky at board games, all games actually, don’t hate me.
14. I have this nerdy thing with numbers, I will remember very odd numbers like the exact meter from my parents car at different specific moments of my childhood.
15. I stopped biting my nails on January 7th 2013 and still going strong.
16. I have tried a zillion times to pronounce the spanish word “ferrocarril” and I am absolutely unable to roll the R, I doubt I will ever be.
17. My favorite fruit is an acidulous raspberry.
18. The tip of my nose always gets itchy and I have that weird tic to scratch it, since forever.
19. My husband and I have lived in 7 different apartments in Paris and then New York.
20. When I was little I wanted to be a dance teacher or a french braid specialist.
21. I used to run faster than everyone (boys included).
22. I haaaaate the smell of bleach, really can’t stand it.
23. I watched all the horror movies way too young and as a result I am convinced that there are sharks waiting to eat me in all watery places and that the guy in the ice cream truck with that creepy music is actually a clown serial killer. (If you have the number of a good shrink…).