For the design of this collection, we were inspired by Greek mythology and, in particular, by one of the most emblematic episodes of the Ulysses: the encounter between Ulysses and Polyphemus.

Legend has it that the cyclops Polyphemus, son of the sea god Poseidon, lived in a cave on the slopes of Mount Etna in Sicily. Homer's cyclops were fearsome giants, fierce and cannibalistic. They had a single eye in the center of their forehead, symbolizing their inability to see the world from any other perspective than violence, rudeness, and a total lack of humanity.

When Ulysses arrived in Sicily, he and a dozen companions went into the island in search of food, and when they found a flock of sheep in the shelter of a cave, they decided to enter to eat and regain their strength.

Polyphemus, back in the cave, saw that thieves were plundering his home, closed the entrance with a huge rock, trapped the humans and ate two of them. Ulysses then devised a stratagem.

As a token of hospitality, he offered the Cyclops a wineskin filled with powerful wine, and the Cyclops, once drunk, fell into a deep sleep. Then the Greek hero and his companions took the olive tree trunk that Polyphemus was using as a staff, turned it into a pointed stake, and drove it into the giant's eye.

While Polyphemus, now blind, will remain in his cave, a prisoner of a violent and closed world, Ulysses, having regained his freedom, will be able to sail back to Ithaca.

Despite the many vicissitudes he will encounter during his journey, thanks to his intellect, his civilization and, above all, his vision of a free world, Ulysses will know how to solve every seemingly impossible difficulty and, aware of his human potential, he will finally reach his goal.

The decorative motif of the eye has always been a constant element in many cultures around the world: from the Eye of Horus or Udyat of the Egyptians to the more recent Masonic symbols.

For example, the Nazar, also known as the "Turkish Eye", is perhaps the most famous amulet in the world. The word nazar is of Arabic origin and means "sight, to see" because it is believed to protect the wearer from evil eyes.

For this handcrafted jewel, we were particularly inspired by the oftalmoi: apotropaic eyes that the Greeks painted on the bow of their triremes to gain the favor of the gods before setting sail on the waters of the Mediterranean.

In Greek and Roman mythology, shells represented the mother's womb and were a symbol of wealth, fertility and, above all, rebirth.

A classic example is the use of a shell in the iconography of the goddess Venus or Aphrodite, which, according to several hypotheses, has a direct connection with the "pilgrim's shell", symbol of one of the most important routes to spiritual rebirth: the Way of St. James.

In Botticelli's Birth of Venus, for example, the shell symbolized the triumph of love and compassion, of the spiritual over the selfish and earthly. It was the rebirth of a person, his resurrection, his enlightenment.

Our Ulises collection is a tribute to freedom and expresses the importance of seeing the world and life from a new, open and free perspective.

The open eye you see at the center of this handcrafted jewelry is no longer that of the Cyclops, who was wicked and blind to society, but that of Ulysses, the enlightened man who managed to escape from the dark cave to embrace the light of the world without prejudice, with curiosity and in the exercise of his freedom.

We want these "eyes" that you wear in your lobes to be beacons to your goals and to push you to always go forward, whatever the cost and whatever the difficulties that you may encounter.

Always brave, always forward, always free.