About

Historical shop of antique and design jewellery, objects, furnitures and textiles.

Giovanna Frossi opened it in 1995 after a thirty-year experience at Il Discanto, which was the point of reference in Milan for lovers of antique and ethnic jewellery. Since 1968, on the occasions of trips to Asia, Africa and South America, Giovanna Frossi, has acquired a collection of necklaces, rings, bracelets, ornaments. Collection enriching over time through the exploration of new countries and new shapes of beauty.

It is such that represents a strong element of attraction at the shop in via San Fermo, for the sophisticated clients who are sensitive to the significance of an ornament presented by the competent experts and with a documentation which scientifically certifies its authenticity and integrity

Thanks to continuous collaboration with important museums like the Barbier Muller in Geneva, and repeated trips all over the world, Giovanna Frossi is always on the way to new discoveries.

Suggestions put forward has been concerning more and more different fields: from the jewellery – a very sophisticated selection of pieces from the 18th and 19th century, amazing fine and designer jewels from the 20th century, antique natural amber, coral and tourquoise, small mosaics from the Mediterranean area – to dresses – especially kimono – and accessories of oriental provenance.

The collaboration with some designers, for example Romeo Gigli, who are sensitive to the fascination of remote countries and different beauty concepts is of significance.

The trips I had to face in these years, from Afghanistan to Syria, from Arabia to China, were defined by the sense of adventure, When I sell a piece of jewellery I think about the distance I covered to meet it, the cigarettes smoked during the price negotiation. Each of my objects has a story, a past and a soul.

Such as the Fulani earrings that I exhibited in the shop: they are a status symbol foe Mali women who receive them as a gift at the death of the mother or from the husband in occasion of the marriage; and the husband is forced to sell the livestock in order to buy them. They are very, very difficult to purchase and I got them from an Australian ethnologist, Angela Fischer. But now, it’s even more difficult to do business because the globalization has reached the tribal societies too.

I recall when i proposed to purchase a necklace to some women of a Tuareg caravan in the middle of the desert. They tried to overcharge me, demanding an excessive price and faced with the first objections, at the first negotiation, they brought out, in front of my eyes, a book of antique jewellery with pictures of their necklaces.

I travelled a lot and lived, yes, just like the Neruda’s book. I say that I have lived in distant and inaccessible places from Africa to Asia. Plenty of trips to the remotest and wildest places, the search for particular objects and the infinite coming-backs.

And after all, close to my heart is the sense of belonging, my roots, San Nicolò, the small old village that belongs to me more than any other thing in the world.