About Us
Svetlana Tkachenko
He was born in Russia in 1976 into a family where the tradition of embroidery was at home. She practiced it with her grandmother who taught her the first rudiments, and later she practiced at a purely industrial textile school. Later she perfected her skills at the "SCHOOL OF HIGH FASHION EMBROIDERY" (with offices in Rome and Milan) from which she learned mainly the techniques appreciated at Parisian Haute Couture ateliers.
His work starts from BASIC POINTS, not necessarily complex, but still pleasing in its simplicity, as the Shadow Point might be, for example. However, it finds its best expression in more complex stitches, or at any rate cheerful, always lively, as befits a current, young style, always elegant and never heavy. Her specialization is in pattern embroidery: starting with a predefined pattern (reproduced on canvas or white fabric) and then reproducing the work with the use of sequins and beads.
With the LUNEVILLE (a French technique that is making a comeback) very popular genres have been produced in apparently traditional markets, such as the Florentine market. OTHER TECHNIQUES USED: Svetlana has also used very noble techniques, such as CANTU' LACE, ROCOCO' PUNTO (also known as French Stitch) and MAKRAME', without disdaining the simple technique of COUNTED THREADS (Hardanger).
"Smeralda Moda is the landing place for those who want to discover the multifaceted potential of designer embroidery to enrich high fashion garments and fabrics of all kinds."
WORKSHOP LOCATION
The workshop is located in the beautiful setting of Alta Sabina, in the ancient village of POGGIO SAN LORENZO (RI).
It is a place already known in the time of the Roman Empire, the village itself was built on the ruins of the villa of Emperor Nerva's wife (the ancient name was in fact Vicus Nervae); the workshop itself rests on the very ancient Roman walls dating back to the 1'Century A.D.C.
Poggio San Lorenzo was the subject of the portrait painter Gaspar van Wittel (the father of the architect Vanvitelli, creator of the Reggia di Caserta, to be clear), and which can still be admired in the Louvre museum in Paris. The place is famous for olive oil production, and in this regard it is possible to visit an ancient olive press dating back to the 16th century, also built on the remains of an ancient Roman mill.
Roman vestiges can also be traced both to archaeological excavations conducted by the Soprintendenza (see an ancient milestone indicating the 38' mile of the via Salaria) and to local place names (the via Tebaldi is nothing more than a corruption of Titus Balnea, precisely because of the local abundance of water, at the time used for thermal baths and now reaching the area of northern Rome by modern aqueducts); not forgetting the sanctuary of the Madonna Dei Penitenti (a local pilgrimage destination), built on the remains of the pagan sanctuary dedicated to the goddess Vacuna.
Poggio San Lorenzo constitutes a stopping point on the Via di San Francesco, a pilgrimage route that starts from the Sanctuary of La Verna and terminates in Rome after crossing the Holy Valley of Rieti. Precisely because of this reputation as a holy and devout place, Poggio San Lorenzo was home for several months to St. Leonard of Porto Maurizio, one of the major originators and propagators of the Via Crucis.
