Giuseppe Montaldi looks to his roots for inspiration when designing jewellery and hopes Toronto’s Italian community will respond in kind.
Hailing from Abruzzo in central Italy, the owner of Montaldi Gioielli was one of nine artisan designers and goldsmiths showing off their wares at a B2B meeting held at the Intercontinental Toronto Yorkville earlier this month.
Montaldi says jewellery designed with elements from Italy’s folklore and heritage should strike a cord with Italian Canadians and those looking for one-of-a-kind pieces.
Sponsored by the Italian Trade Commission, the event works to promote the ‘Made in Italy’ brand in foreign markets by facilitating partnerships and encouraging commercial exchange. It has 104 offices in 80 countries, including two in Canada.
Although the euro is quite strong against the Canadian dollar, Montaldi says he is still hopeful the allure of the handcrafted designs and the power of the Italian brand will help win over the importers and distributors who attended the event.
“At the moment, we know this is a problem,” Montaldi said. “But we know Italian jewellery is good and our quality is our strength.”
All nine companies paid their own way to be at the event. Their hope is that working with the commission will reap better rewards than venturing on their own into the Canadian market.
“I think Toronto and Ontario deserve a direct presence of Italian companies to come here to promote their products to importers and distributors in Canada,” Paolo Ponti, Italy’s trade commissioner, told Jewellery Business.
“I would like Canada to become one of the main targets of the Italian jewellery industry and understand what Italian production can offer in terms of lifestyle, esthetic, and design. [Italian designers] can compete in this market with reasonable price, good quality, good design, matching what the Canadian market is looking for.”
