Our Founder. From high fashion to custom surf wetsuits. Here's Cinzia Dell'Omo’s life

"A man working with his hands is a worker; a man working with his hand his brain is a craftsman; a man  working with his hands, brain and heart is an artist."

Saint Francis of Assisi

Arts and crafts had a great impact on our founder since her very early childhood. Born on a mountainside, always in love with the sea, Cinzia grew up in her family’s workshop, smelling hot iron, listening the screech of the lathe, looking at a man of other times, her grandfather, who with the strength of his hands and great effort modeled material. Her eyes, used to see manual work, are the same that in the following years would experience the slow disappearence of artisanal traditions, caused by globalization and mass industry production. This awareness will always be a guide for her, like seagulls for sailors.

It is the golden age of Italian fashion, Armani and Versace, top models like Naomi Campbell, Claudia Shiffer, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista. Since she was very young Cinzia has used a pencil and paper to colour her world, dreaming about making clothes for her haute couture heroines. Her fashion sketches, born on paper, came to life and lead her to adulthood, she chooses to study fashion journalism, and images suddenly turn into words, and words start to shape images.

The years of studies are full of suggestions, developed with great results, obtaining a master's in fashion journalism directed by Adriana Mulassano, a Corriere della sera successfull journalist, and directing her university’s magazine for two years after winning a competitive bidding process. Notwithstanding the great successes obtained, Cinzia understands writing is not her future path, she’s happy but feels unfulfilled. She loves to write, but at the same time she misses handcrafting, Cinzia senses her artisan origins’ call.

Life has unexpected and unpredictable ways: Cinzia met famous costume designer Paola Nazzaro, begins to work in cinematic costume, During such apprenticeship period she becomes aware of the need for more professional training. She therefore attended the Accademia d'alta moda e d'Arte del Costume Koefia, acheiving the specialization in modelling and graphics applied to clothing.

Since her first fashion collection, back in 2008, created employing Wood's Lamps and reagents for colours, she has begun to be interested in ecology and environmental protection. For the "luci della città" (city lights) collection, she created clothes using recycled materials conceived like wearable art, a means of high communication to deliver a strong message to wake awareness on light pollution: "turn off the lights and enjoy the stars".

A real chance followed: Cinzia worked for Gucci celebrities department as a seamstress. She could finally touch haute couture garments with her own hands, modifying them to fit to the great screen stars. Working on Gucci Clothes she studies the manufacturing technique and learns the art of haute couture craftmenship.

Cinzia falls in love with surf at the age of 30. She is overwelmed by a powerful wave that imprisons her on the pressing swirl of current. the spirit of freedom of this new love pushes her in a new stage of her life, mad for new discoveries, she’s captured and impassioned by strength: the third time on a surfboard Cinzia suffered an injury that forced her to stay away from work and evaluate her limits. A perfect time to reflect about her life’s path, she decided to leave haute couture and started experimenting surf suits tailored on her body. And even if such garments where made of materials different from neoprene, they were noticed and demand started to show. She has the idea to launch her own brand, Seangolare, wetsuits and custom swimwear for surf, kite surf, stand up and paddle board and other surface water sports.

She now belongs to the waves and to the sea, Cinzia found a new path, but this time standing on a surfboard: she started creating technical surf garments for her new customers. She is back as craftswoman and her art is now in bloom. Firsts swimsuits and wetsuits are an explosion of suggestions taken from fashion, catwalk, craftmenship, sea, but she is feeling that something is missing: technical perfection. Never satisfied, always looking for perfection, she started to work in a neoprene wetsuits workshop, where she learned materials and sewing techniques. Now she can handle it all: technique, knowledge of the materials, an artistic point of view, experience gained in haute couture. A long way that took her far, enough to go as far as her dreams. Cinzia resigned in order to focus on her brand.

In 2016 craftwomen defined her vision: innovative start up BY THE SEA by Cinzia Dell'Omo is born, founded by the creativity found in the Lazio region in support of cultural and creative activities. The young woman who created an artisan business in a world where tailoring workshops keep closing. A conscious challenge made walking on a long path of a thousand falls and strength, experience and passion for craftmanship bonded to her origins.

"Sometimes you need to go back, to me this is the innovation I want to pursue with my start up. Keeping alive the tradition of craftmanship, promote values of slow fashion in a fast world".

Autore:

Gianluca Petracca