Voo Store: How did SANTANGELO come to life?
Anna Santangelo: Without the intention to start a brand actually. I was asked by a stylist I worked for, Celestine Cooney, who is also a dear friend and mentor, to make all the jewelry for Preen’s FW19 runway show, having never made jewelry before. The rest you can say, followed off the back of that and ever since has been an act of falling forward. I’m completely self-taught and not particularly business minded but I’ve been enjoying leaning into the process and the unknown.
V: You mentioned that you were a stylist before starting your brand. Does this influence SANTANGELO at all?
A: Most definitely. I’ve worked for years as a stylist and consultant for other brands so since starting Santangelo, I’ve really fine tuned what it is I want to say and how I want to say it. Developing the visual language for my own brand has been so fun to explore. It is really important to me that Santangelo feels like an immersive world with a specific attitude, direction, energy so I feel so grateful for my experience as a stylist as well as my creative community around me to have the tools to express this.
I think I design with a styling brain rather than a classical jewelry designer brain. I am completely self-taught so I think my styling background informs the way I see the pieces can be worn and ultimately the way I design them. One piece of jewelry could be an anklet, a waist chain, a necklace, something that holds up your T-shirt sleeve. I like to encourage freedom of expression and individuality in this way.