Fossati

Marina (1924-1994). Jewellery designer. She belonged to the artisanal world of Lissone, where she was born. Her father was a carpenter at La Scala. For her entire life, she was never ashamed of being called an artisan. On the contrary, she considered it praiseworthy and was proud of it. She arrived in Milan in the early 1960s, during the economic boom, and she carved out a space for herself thanks to perseverance in her work, an extraordinary technical ability, and the ambition to do new and original things. She started with the presentations at Palazzo Pitti, working for designers who would later become great names but were, at the moment, making their début. Her designs — rings, earrings, brooches, necklaces, and bracelets — displayed taste and imagination. She used relatively modest materials such as crystal, pearls, coral, ivory, and semi-precious stones. She deserves the credit for establishing Sharra Pagano on via della Spiga in 1970 in partnership with Lino Raggio. Marina liked working on an artisanal level and had no desire for a large business. After just three years, she split with Raggio and opened her own space at via del Gesù 15. In the late 1980s, she left the company to her associate Anna Tarabelloni, who maintained the offices and continued the Marina Fossati brand. She was a frequent visitor in the artistic circles of Bagutta, from which the first Italian literary prize was born.