CARLA GALLAS
fall/winter 2008

Contemporary Design Jewellery with Vintage Materials

The Brazilian in Buenos Aires (Argentina) living jewellery designer Carla Gallas combines types of vintage-based materials such as Bakelite, Czech Art Deco glass, crystals, vintage Lucite, embroideries, etc. with woven steel, leather, silk,… to create a contemporary look. Now she is presenting her collection on her website trashbutchic.com.

fig.: Necklace / Belt made of 1940`s French straw. It can be used in many ways!

Since 19 years Carla is antique dealer and jewellery designer. The great majority of her pieces are one of a kind; others are available in a limited edition (about 100 to 200 pieces, depending to the model) due to the inherent nature of acquiring and using extremely rare materials.

Question: "Why are you using vintage materials?"

Carla Gallas: "I use recycled materials for no damages to the planet, ..."

Question: "On your website you are presenting so many elegant, artful pieces. One of them is named "Antique 1900's Austrian feathers brooch". Where have you got the Austrian feathers from? What's the story behind these brooches?"

Carla Gallas: "About the feathers; I bought them all in mint condition with the seal "Made in Austria" and made the brooches with them. I believe they were made for that kind of Austrian men's hat ... They are surely from the early 1900's. I bought from an Austrian family who came to Argentina at that time."

Question: Do you know why European immigrants came to Argentina? Did they come to Argentina for working and did they return to Europe? Or have they settled down and Argentina became their new homeland?

Carla Gallas: "I don't know exactly how much, but they were a lot, hundreds of thousands, mainly Italians and from Spain. They came because the great opportunities of work they could have here. Argentina was a very rich country at that time. They came to stay and made their fortunes here.

There are a lot of European immigrants here from all over Europe that came in that time. This is why I come across of this kind of material. But they are becoming scarce here, because almost nothing of the antiques we use to have are left. A lot of Europeans and Americans came to buy them to export.

But these vintage materials can still be found with a good hunt and contacts."

On her website www.trashbutchic.com you can take a look at her work.



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fig.: Antique 1900's Austrian feathers brooches, all sealed.