Friday is my day: Nivule

Hey Friday friends! Today we will fly to Italy and meet Novelle and her friend Alice behind Nivule.etsy.com
They create beautiful high quality one of a kind clothes.
Have an ispiring Friday!

Monsieur Moustache Washed Silk Tank

nivule

Hi everyone,

I am Novella, I’m 24 and I live in Piacenza. A couple of years ago I created the mark Nivule with my friend Alice, we started making handmade printed clothes. I design and sew the dresses, and Alice prints them.

You can find us on Etsy and for now, in a few italian shops.

I come from Liguria, a region on the north west of Italy, facing the sea. Bordighera, where I was born, is a wonderful little town, where the wheather is good for any species of plants and flowers.

5 years ago I came to Piacenza, for studying fashion design in Milano’s IED (European design institute).

Here weather and landscape aren’t as good as in my land but it’s pretty nice as you will see.

Here’s my Friday, from the RRRIIIING! Of the alarm at

10.30

The first thing I do is to open the balcony door, so that Muffa, my dog, can go out, do a little stretching and take her first sight of the situation in the building’s yard. She is 8 and she followed me here in Piacenza. The potted plant you can see past her is basil, which I grow every year to make my own Pesto sauce.

10.40

Breakfast is just sweet! I take tea with milk, honey and biscuits. Muesli and coffee are for my boyfriend Alberto.

11.00

Watering the plants. I also have a cactus family.. Now is October and a little bit cold for them , but in the summer the balcony is flourished in many colours.

11.30

Checking mail and Etsy status, doing other little works on the internet, then a quick jump on Etsy forum. I still have to fix on photoshop some pics for the shop before I go out to the post office, today is shipping day!

12.30

I prepare the pack to be sent. I attach the labels and put the clothes into the envelope. This dress in the picture went to the south of Italy, in a store in Catania.

13.00

By the time I cycle to the post office with Muffa I notice that today the sky is split in 2: looking east you can have a totally different impression on the town than lookin west. Piacenza lies in the big northern plain of Italy, and was built as the first roman outpost in the north. Inside the town there are still many medieval buildings, especially a lot of churches.

13.10

Finally at the post office, Muffa makes good company while I wait

14.00

It’s lunch time, and my boyfriend tested our new red pan by making potatoes tortilla. Very tasty! We watch One Piece cartoons on TV and then have a coffee.

15.15

In the first afternoon I go out again to buy some zips and buttons at the haberdashery (in Italian, Merceria). In the first picture an ancient square of the town, in the second is my white old bike in front of the shop.

15.45

Back home again, I take some pictures of a custom made pair of pants. They look very good in this colour!

16.00

Now it’s time to make a new dress, it’s a black felt dress printed on the front. I fix the paper model then I cut and sew

While I’m doing this Alice arrives for printing it. We have another coffee and try to take a normal picture of us…we really tried, but perhaps this is the best that we could get. It won’t be so beautiful but at least is sincere!

18.30

I’ve finished the dress and Alice is painting the last details after printing the dress with a stencil.

After having a good chat with Alice it’s time to start cooking the dinner.

21.00

Pizza! Black olives and anchovies, the taste is three times better than the look, it’s my grandmother Elda’s recipe!

During the evening we watch a movie, The Commitments. It tells the story of a soul band from Dublin, very crazy!

24.00

I’ve got to go to bed early because in the week-end I turn myself into a shop assistant, in a classic clothing store located in a near town outlet. Quite boring perspective, but now I’m out with Muffa for a relaxing last walk, the air is starting to get cold but still is sparkling, and it’s almost full moon.