Fine jewellery designer Daniel Federici may have created a modern icon with the drop earring, but the piece he still most loves is a rose gold prosthetic leg he made for a one-legged racing pigeon named Barry. He spoke with artist Kitty Callaghan in Lake Como about working alongside Daniel Lee, the importance of process, and the bucolic idyll of the Italian countryside.
What does your ideal summer day at home look like?
I think it changes every year, but growing up by the water, we left all the doors open year-round. I now open every window and door in the house so the air flows into every room and you can hear the birds from any floor in the house. No shoes, just a complete indoor/outdoor space. We cook a lot during summer; barbeques and sandwiches by the lake. I think it’s those really chill ‘nothing’ moments during summer that I look forward to the most. Swims throughout the day and ending with a drink at the local bar. The village turns into a scenic, almost 1940s Italian movie set during summer, so it’s nice to just watch it unfold throughout the day. Slow is the perfect word.
And in the winter? How do you like to spend your time?
Winter is pretty quiet. It’s one of my personal favourite times at home. Having so much glass around the house, you can see the trees changing colour each month, and the lake becomes super vibrant just before winter sets in. We get to light the fire and take longer walks with Victor – he’s a winter dog, so we get him out on the trails around the lake. He loves the snow. Cooking, a good movie and some real stillness. I think a lot of people don’t think about Como during the winter, but it's when the village feels the warmest. Also, only in winter does the sun set behind the house, and it hits the hill directly opposite us in the afternoon, creating this watercolour effect on the scenery unlike anything I’ve ever seen anywhere. I comment on it every winter.
You like to cook at home. What’s currently on rotation in your kitchen?
Minestrone. Depends really – our local deli is a legend and he has seasonal produce from around the area, so we usually go by what he has or what he doesn’t. Anything with spice – but I would say our go-to is a good minestrone.
What were some of the elements that drew you to this house?
The light for sure. It’s taken me a while to realise some dormant comforts that I think I overlooked for a lot of years, like natural light. Finding the house happened by chance also. We were coming back from a trip to Lebanon and this was the first property we saw and we signed within days. The views, the light – it feels like a greenhouse, or some weird atrium stuck on a hill.
To be honest, when we first moved in, there was a full day where I looked at my partner and we had a ‘what did we do’ moment. The day we arrived, we had no idea about the dynamics of the lake – transport, shops, accessibility. We sat on the balcony with an empty house behind us in absolute silence. We went for a walk and stumbled upon the only restaurant nearby, Momi. They had an event on, so we weren’t able to eat, but the owner came running after us after he saw us look in the window and offered us a plate of pasta to sit by the lake. It set a new tone immediately.
When you are working, do you have a ritual or routine you follow to keep balance in your day?
Depends on who you talk to. I’ve never been great at balance, but I would say my dog Victor has been the biggest impact on my routine. He’s a little psycho in the best possible way, and always keeps me on my toes – so it breaks stressful days up. We wake up pretty early, walk first thing, then coffee in the morning together at the local bar, which is a nice walk by the lake. Then I usually sit on the balcony for a bit before work. When I am traveling, it’s that routine that I miss the most for sure.
What are some of your most treasured possessions in your home?
There are a few. We commissioned this giant carved wooden chair as a centrepiece for the lounge room by Mark Bowman. It’s a single, recycled trunk that took 12 months to finish. It’s one of my favourite things in the house. It also took half the village to get it through the door. Our beautiful art deco wooden dining table, a yellow ceramic spiral floor lamp from my time in Paris, and a reclaimed 17th-century marble sink we propped up as a sideboard on two cut cedar block would be a few others. We furnished the house very slowly to make sure the pieces we chose, we loved. Because the house is very open and gridded, we chose pretty singular structures that fill spaces nicely, rather than smaller cluttered pieces. It’s still an ongoing process for sure.
Have you got any pieces of art, furniture or otherwise that you’re looking to add to your home?
There’s a wall in the dining area that has been empty for a year, because we can't decide what to put there – I have my eye on a piece from Nana Wolke and Ben Storm. Italy has so many incredible vintage fairs and markets, sometimes without the intention we find something on impulse and make it fit.
What do you love most about Lake Como?
How much it feels like where I grew up. It’s nothing like it, but has the same isolated feeling, greenery, water and it’s simple. It's not as baroque as other Italian cities, it feels more dominated by natural elements, mixed in with this really authentic sense of village community. Every time I travel, I immediately miss it here. The lake has become a really personal sanctuary.
Where did you grow up, and how is it similar or different to living in Lombardy?
Jervis Bay, in New South Wales, Australia – Vincentia to be more precise. It is one of the most beautiful towns, still after years of travel. Look, they are worlds apart, but Jervis Bay and Como have a lot in common. Growing up, you couldn’t walk down the street without saying hello to 100 people you knew along the way. Como is a little the same, you walk through your village and people stop you, want to know about your week, how you are... it’s the same sense of community. There is a lifestyle focus here also. People don’t live to work – they enjoy life, celebrate the small moments and really enjoy the subtleties of each day. It could be a wine by the water by yourself, that ends up with half the town joining your table after an hour. There’s a similar feeling of joy I experienced when I was younger.
Tell me about your journey in your work. Did you have a preconceived idea or vision to end up making fine jewellery for luxury Houses? What have been some highlights along the way, thus far?
I 100 per cent had no idea what I was doing when I was younger. Growing up in Jervis Bay, there wasn’t the same cultural spark built into day-to-day life found across Europe. I had to find it for myself in whatever circumstance I could manage – ceramics, painting classes in the local town hall, photography classes, anything!
I remember my Aunt used to do LED-light stained glass in her backyard growing up, and I thought that was mind-blowing. I think it was really a basic curiosity that kept pushing me to find a footing in something creative. I actually started studying law out of high school. I lasted three months and dropped out. I enrolled into COFA [College of Fine Arts] in Sydney, where I found jewellery design and silver-smithing under their industrial design course. And from there things fell into place in my head. It did take a while for me to figure out how to turn it into a job, but after a year of dabbling in all sorts of side hustles, I began working with the Australian brand Ellery. Launching their jewellery collections with great success took me to Paris, where my network grew – working with other Houses – and two years after being in Paris I was scouted to re-establish the jewellery upon Daniel Lee being appointed at Bottega Veneta – and now the same situation with Burberry in the UK. It was that move to Milan that was the catalyst for me finding home in Como. One very special moment I won't forget was when, weeks before Elsa Peretti passed, we had planned a collaboration with the icon. I had sent her a bracelet, to which she wrote back a very sincere note. To know I shared work with one of my cherished idols means the world to have had the opportunity. A more humorous highlight was the drop earring I designed in 2022 that has become one of the most recognisable staples in girls' wardrobes, mostly due to the amount of ‘dupes’. I can‘t seem to go anywhere without spotting a good fake.
What are you most proud of?
Not listening to safe advice.
How often do you travel to London and Paris for work, and do you feel an energy shift once you arrive back to Como?
Every second week or so. It’s nice to duck in and out, but nothing beats the feeling of coming home. Home is such a content space for me, so as soon as I know I have to leave, mentally I’m already counting down the days or hours until I’m back.
What’s the greatest thing you have learned working with Daniel Lee?
Where do I start? Just one is tricky... Work ethic. Process. The significance of perspective. Not always doing what is asked. The importance of disruption. Function is exciting. In an industry that favours common opinions, Daniel really made a safe space for designers to think more progressively about their crafts and processes. For me, personally, the amount of trust he has shown over the years has allowed me to work quite autonomously and intuitively. It’s honed a tailored process that is more tactile and reactive to the necessities of each idea. It has taught me that no matter how beautiful a design is, without perspective, it will lack full potential. Anyone can be random, few can subvert cultural trends into desirable, functional objects.
If you had to choose one piece of jewellery you have designed to represent your practice, which piece would it be?
Ironically, I think about my graduate collection a lot still. I made a rose gold prosthetic leg for an old racing pigeon that had one functioning leg. His name was Barry. At the time, I couldn’t pick a research topic because everything felt disingenuous to me, so I wanted to make a controlled experiment around something I loved – at the time, birds were a big obsession of mine. So, I documented the process to make this movable precious prosthetic that then informed a small 12-piece collection.
