“Handmade has always been my passion. And all I love to do is always linked to manual skills."

Maria La Rosa

I was born in Sicily, my land of origin, to which I remain deeply attached. Although for years now I live and work in Milan, the South continues for me to be a source of inspiration. Maybe the most important.

Since I was a child I have shown interest in every art form and in its details. I was attracted by ornaments and shades of color of ancient palaces and their furnishings, where I stayed with my family, as well as the small-stitched embroidery that embellished my mother’s kit, entirely hand-stitched.
I disassembled and reassembled old sweaters. And I loved to draw: It was and yet it is my main way of expressing myself.

Over time I realized how much I was fascinated by fashion and by the possibility of being able in my turn to produce garments. I dreamed of reproducing the beauty not only of what I saw but above all of what I imagined and to do it I tested various techniques.
After leaving secondary school, I searched for a faculty answering to my tendencies, the one that more was close was exactly a fashion school. Next I worked in various style business. But it was in Paris that the turning point took place, which coincided with a sort of lightning strike: while strolling along the banks of Seine, inside a junk shop I saw for the first time an old loom. The idea of being able to create a fabric by weaving the yarns struck me so much that, studying on various books and texting myself, I began to dedicate myself to the art of weaving using this ancient instrument. First I choose the smaller ones, those for sampling, then I switched to larger ones. Today, as at one time, I use only manual wooden looms, devoid of mechanical parts.

Handmade has always been my passion. And all I love to do is always linked to manual skills.

I want to invent and to realize: my imagination feeds on shapes and colors and draws inspiration from everything that gives me suggestions or emotions. It can be a book, or a motion picture, a magazine, a video or an object. Or even a landscape: nature goes on to be my first muse, especially that one of South. My shelter is in Puglia: a country house near the sea, privileged spot of my creativity.

“I search for inspiration in everything that lives and surrounds me, I am careful witness of the contemporary world, and I draw again what strikes me most.”

Alice Lilla Ferrari

I was born in Milan to Sicilian mother and father from Salento.
I was a lively and curious child, sometime rebel: characteristics that I did not lose, even now that I have just the soul of a child.
Grown playing between looms, warps, webs, heddles and shuttles, I invent fabrics since when I was at high school. After graduating in industrial design, I spent several years living abroad, until I decided to come back home to bring my know-how to the family atelier.

In 2007 together with my sister Lisa I founded the Maricò brand, presented at the competition “Who is on next” promoted by Vogue Italia in collaboration with Alta Roma: as part of the Talent Hub project, we were selected to create – for four season – a collection supported by Furla brand.
This firs stimulating success was followed by many others, which saw us to collaborate always more frequently with brands, stylists and artists at international level.
For me is vital to create unique and original accessories. I seek inspiration in everything that I live and that surrounds me., from books to art, from music to travelling. In addition to the human being and its endless aspects.
I am careful witness of the contemporary world, and I draw again what strikes me most.

We created a family business, almost completely feminine, that believes in collaborators and collaborations and we don’t forget the importance of ethics in working relations. And not only that.
I feel part of a fashion called slow, attentive to the environment and ecology: my wish is to create garments lasting over time, intended for those who believe in the respect for the planet and its dwellers. To those who do not think beauty be synonymous of perfection, but rather that beauty is to find also and above all in what can be defined as imperfections: that characterize the handmade and become acquired with the passing of the years. Underlining the peculiarity of it. I love what has been lived through, because talk about life.

"In the family creativity has always been at home. As well as being a normality. And it was considered as a common good, which each of us could reach."

Lisa Cecilia Ferrari

I feel like a Southerner Milanese: my mother is Sicilian and my father is from Puglia, but Ii was born in Milan.
I spent most of my childhood, above all during summer months, in the homelands of my parents, between the landscapes of Puglia and those of Sicily, absorbing images, sensations and warmth. And recipes; my passion for cooking is a legacy of maternal grandmother, who spent all time preparing lunch and dinner, paying attention even to the smallest details. An art, the culinary one, she transmitted me through experience. Just like her daughter, or my mother, passed on to me the art of weaving: she drew, sewed and created all time. Always and unbelievably well. I was watching her, ecstatic. And I tried to imitate her. When she bought her first loom she put it in the middle of the living room as if it was a piece of furniture to share with all of us: in the family creativity was at home. As well as being a normality. And it was treated as a common good, which each of us could reach.

I have always wanted to travel, possibly without ever stopping, so when I had to choose university I had no doubts: I entered a Foreign languages and literatures with an economic address. After graduation, I went to discover different countries. The last one has been Australia. I was thinking about moving there, but homesickness together with the desire to contribute to family business made me change opinion. I came back and I jumped headlong in our business.

Looking back, I have no regrets, on the contrary: almost our projects have come true, giving us a lot of satisfaction. Professional, but not only.
My dream is always that one to create a Maria la Rosa resort, in which conjugate my love for travelling and responsible tourism with that for fashion and handmade without forgetting slow food,
We will realize it over time, as it’s in our style: we’re working on it, without frenzy. But with care.