Giulia Punti Antichi (GPA) is the result of our "designing adventure" which started in 1998. I am sure you will enjoy reading its story. Giulia, Sofia and Mario share this wonderful adventure together with their dog, Lilli. Let's have Giulia describing our joint venture....

Mario's role

My husband, Mario, is a Medical Doctor, specialized in Radiology, He retired a few years ago. Now he is the boss of Giulia Punti Antichi and he takes care of all the contacts with magazines and needlework related people. Mario is very much like my adored father and my new life and family was a sort of smoothed and lovely transition from previous family life. He is Italian, he passed the American Board of Radiology some years ago and has practiced medicine for some time in the States. He loves the States and made me discover this Country in many ways. He took me to museums, shops, and other related places for needlework and let me detect many things we do not have in Italy. We have been visiting the States many times and we have very good friends in Fullerton, CA, Saratoga, CA and Boise, ID. We have a daughter, Sofia, who was conceived during my first trip to USA, and this is one of the many reasons why I love the States so much....

Giulia's life

I was born on April 29, 1955 in Massa, Italy. I am a Medical Doctor, specialized in Nuclear Medicine and Endocrinology, and I work at the local Hospital of my town, Massa.
I have always loved crafts and needle arts. My paternal grandmother was a wonderful stitcher. My mother has kept all embroidered dresses my grandmother made for my two sisters and me: my daughter and my nephews have worn our treasured dresses too. My mom, a wonderful cook and craftswoman, let me experience everything: cooking, crafting, crocheting, knitting, woodcarving, sewing, gardening. She was a wonderful Elementary School teacher and a wonderful instructor for us. She passed away on December 3rd 2003 and she will never be forgotten.
My father supported my mother buying lots of books for the family and doing himself some crafts like binding books, building little toys and.... keeping all the corks of Champagne bottles used for the festivities. With these corks he created mushroom-like little houses, painted and decorated them, put the date of the event at the bottom and a little hooks on top to hang them on the Christmas tree. I have all corks starting from my birthday and from that of my daughter's! My father, presently retired, was professor of Latin and ancient Greek and was the Dean of his School. He is an internationally recognized scholar on Plutarch.
We grew up surrounded by books, classic music and crafts. One of my sisters is a lawyer and another a judge. Our only brother is a computer nerd. In this way, we had a lot of encouragement and support to expand our ability in every field we liked; love and respect surrounded us.

My love for threads and needles

I started loving needlework almost 38 years ago which has been since my favorite hobby. I did not go to a needlework school, nor did I attend teaching lessons in this field since in Italy, and particularly in my town, this is not possible. Books were my school, and I have collected them during my trips abroad. In my journeys I am always looking for ethnic needlework techniques and traditional designs.
I do not teach at any needlework school nor to private students for several reasons. First, I am very busy with my work at the Hospital as Nuclear Medicine doctor and with my private practice as an Endocrinologist. Second, my daughter needs her mom and I do not want to miss the time I can stay with her. Third, I need time to study, design and realize my projects and I rather like to do all this at home when I am enjoying my family.

My hobbies

Nor do I confine myself to stitching. I made a big dollhouse for my daughter along with all furnishings, carpets, pillows and clothes for the dolls. I love to sew dresses for Sofia and her dolls, and also Renaissance dresses for the historical parades of our town. I love crocheting, knitting, beading, designing, painting, making candles and scented dried flowers, gardening and cooking.
I keep saying that I should get a clone of myself in order to be able to do all that I wish!

My designing adventure

When I met my husband in 1988, I got a tremendous encouragement in my life, my work and my hobbies.
During a trip to the States, in May '97, I discovered Caron web site. I saw an on-line Contest, and I decided to participate. Before that time I had never designed a piece on my own. It was so challenging to see what could happen. When I sent the photos and the instructions, my husband told me I had 75% of probability to win. When I received notice of the Award I was very happy and Mario told me: 'I am not surprised...I told you!' That was my first published piece, the Christmas Sampler.
From that day on, I have designed and stitched many patterns, publishing a few ones as chartpacks, and several ones on the prestigious American magazine Sampler and Antique Needlework Quarterly. One of my patterns, Justice in Our Hearts, dedicated to September 11th 2001, has been displayed on Caron web site and I have been awarded the great honor to have a Designer Spotlight dedicated to me on the same web site on September 2002. After that day many designs came out again and our daughter Sofia has started to design too.

My opinion about being a designer

I believe that artistic temperament is something we have in our DNA and it comes out with great power. I am so happy to have it, as my daughter has it, and I try to improve myself through reading and experimentation. What I enjoy most about creating art is the sense of fulfilment and feelings of serenity and happiness it brings. It is a true relief, after a busy day at work, to come home and start designing and stitching with your family around!
Although it sounds strange, I believe that there are lots of common things in medicine and needlework art. You need to be precise and patient, you need to find solutions and research to obtain the results and, besides that, the medical field is so stressful that the search for a relaxing hobby is truly a must, or a sort of desperate need.
I also love the creative part of a design because sometimes I get ideas from my life or personal feelings like my family, my mom, or something important, like Sept. 11th. Sometimes just a piece of fabric or threads makes me start thinking about a design for that special color. What I always do is take the fabric out and place the skeins on the fabric. I have to see how the colors 'mix and match' or mismatch and only after the choice of the fabric and colors, I can start stitching. I would say that colors are the main ingredient for my work as a designer.
I always design and stitch my projects using variegated cotton or silk threads. I love the different shades I can realize while I stitch with overdyed threads; it is like having a rainbow in my hands. I am almost sure that without variegated threads my needlework designing adventure would have never started. Besides, needlework designing gives me the opportunity to see my ideas becoming real and I can touch and modify them. This is the challenging part of my love for needlework.
Another lovely phase of my design planning is to get inspiration from the past, by studying antique samplers and experimenting with different styles and stitching techniques. Designing old-fashioned samplers with variegated threads is quite strange. It adds a contemporary charm to an old "look."
I strongly believe we have to look to the past to realize our best future and while stitching I have inside my brain and my hands the past of my family. I do not think to have a specific artistic style. I love all my pieces and I would stitch them again with no change. Each piece reflects a certain time of my life and reminds me of my loving moments. As long as I enjoy designing and stitching, this is fine for me.

Our friends

We all are our best supporters and we all contribute to our designing adventure, even though Sofia and I are dedicated to the artistic and creative matters and Mario takes care of all the other practical aspects.
Through needlearts and fibers we have had the opportunity to know many wonderful people, all sharing our deepest passion for needles and threads.
Some of them became our dearest friends and we were able to meet them in person. With some others we share a wonderful e-mail correspondence and they are on our "wishing list to meet".
We have friends all over the States. I was even enrolled as an honorary member in the EGA chapter of Sacramento ten years ago and after that I decided to keep my membership forever.
I believe that the success of our designs is mainly due to the relationships, which we had the good fortune to make with stitchers, needlework designers, publishers, shop owners and suppliers in the US. Without them, nothing would have been possible. All this came also from our beloved American stitchers and we will never forget this. I am still surprised to see how Justice in Our Hearts, designed to commemorate September 11th 2001, was so loved.
Now that we start to see our pieces loved in Italy and France too, it is like coming back home, but our "needlework love tour" in USA will always go on. I proudly belong to the Historic Needlework Guild, E.G.A. Camellia Chapter of Sacramento, CA and to the Swan Samplers Stitchers of Salt Lake City, UT, and I will always be a member of these two wonderful Societies.

SOFIA

Our daughter, Sofia, was born on September 2nd, 1993. Her full name is Sofia, Fausta (my mom's name - Fausta means "happy", and indeed happy she is!) and Sandy (from our best friend in the States, like a sister to my husband and me).
Sofia is now a teenager and she is just a normal girl of her age. She loves listening to music, especially when it comes to Diabolika (an italian House Music band), Ligabue, Studio 3 and Modà, all italian singers.

Sofia’s hobbies and favorite things

She likes to go to school and attends regularly a Classic Ballet School and a Modern Ballet School. She also likes skiing, snowboarding and chatting on the computer. Her favorite pet is our little dog, Lilli, which has been her companion for the past 6 years. Other interests of Sofia are books, music, and American movies, particularly the old Musicals and Chick flicks. Her preferred books are Gossip Girl, A Series of Unfortunate Events, and The Clique Series. As a fan of the cast of the O.C. she has collected all series and knows each episode by heart.

Her artistic life

Years ago she liked to craft with ceramic and clay. Now she likes scrapbooking, writing and drawing.
Like other girls of her age, she is in a special time of her life with sudden changes, so her taste for clothes, hobbies and interests are sometimes changing very quickly, but what she has not changed, up to now, is her love for designing. Her designs are always full of colors and details, and express with great power her love for life and human relationships. Years ago she sent one of her drawings to Highlights for Children, which was eventually published. When she was 6, she designed and charted a little mermaid with nice sea creatures for Caron Collection Web Site. Sofia chose the threads and told me what to do and the special stitches she liked. The result was Sofia's Mermaid. Her favorite colors are all shades of violet and lilac and purple, but she loves all of them. With these colors she has designed and stitched a little purse, Sofia's Sachet. Both pieces are displayed on this web site but also on Caron Collection Web Site.
Now Sofia has her personal line of designs, "Teen Stitch by Sofia", dedicated to young stitchers and based on Sofia's newest designs and ideas. In this section you will find some teenager designs but also two beautiful projects, the Hallowitch Sewing Box, A Ballerina's Dream Sewing Necessaire, and The Night Before Christmas. These pieces were created after an invitation from Judy Odell, our friend in California to be a Designing Lady for her. Take a look at these pieces, they are wonderful! (www.justathought.net)
Sofia also designed the dress and headgear she wore during the Renaissance Historical Parades of her town. I performed all sewing, assembling and embellishments of our dresses under her strict supervision. We love to roam about, in the town, dressed up like rich ladies of 16th Century.

Her trips and her friends

Sofia is fully bilingual, speaking and reading both English and Italian and she made a lot of trips to the States where she has wonderful friends. Her best friends in USA are Mariah in Idaho and Andrea in West Virginia. Sofia loves chatting a lot with friends living in the States, like Rachel in Virginia.
She visited many times Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Salt Lake City and Boise, ID, and she was able to see wonderful National Parks like Yellowstone, Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon, Sequoia Parks and many National and Children Museums in USA. Her favorite amusement Park is Knott's Berry Farm but she also loves Universal Studios and Disneyland in Southern California. Her favorite spots in USA are Fullerton, CA where we take her once a year to our beloved friends Sandy and Richard and Chicago, and Boise, ID where Mariah lives with her family. Sofia loves Charlotte too, where during our show, she will meet again her girlfriend Andrea.

Her role in the company

When I design and choose the threads for a new project, she is the color supervisor and she would reject some skeins if they do not fit her taste. I usually follow her choices since Sofia is almost always right. Not only that, she has to give her final judgment to my needlework pieces. When she likes the piece, the pattern is always a success. She is never wrong.
She helps to prepare charts and designs, assembling chart packs, checks e-mails; occasionally she would help us to reply to some of them... She is now a perfect assistant.