Rituals for the Home

For over a decade, Rosh Mahtani, founder of the jewellery brand Alighieri, has been carefully crafting a unique universe. Through her jewellery, she narrates familial and spiritual stories, creating what she calls “modern heirlooms” out of recycled metals. “I love to think of Alighieri as a universe that brings people together through objects and rituals,” Rosh tells Because. 

The Alighieri brand is embodied at its light-filled studio in London's historic jewellery quarter, Hatton Garden, where shelves of salvaged artefacts set the tone. The brand brought the same design sensibilities to its showroom in Paris, where Rosh and the team reclad an entire apartment (kitchen included) with a truckload of the designer’s personal earthenware, furniture and collectables driven over from London. The personal is what makes Rosh tick.

The Alighieri aesthetic is marked by a striking balance of organic forms and clean lines – rugged textures and warm tones against gleaming metallics and hard stone. And it's an instantly recognisable aesthetic that is key to its longevity as Alighieri celebrates 11 years in the business. 

In Paris, the first glimpse of the brand's latest venture was revealed, as mounds of butter, slabs of honeycomb and piles of bread were neatly laid out for grazing on. The serving implement of choice was a gilded butter knife, its handle resembling vertebrae and its blade ragged like an ancient flint spearhead. This objet d'art was a welcome introduction to Alighieri Casa, the new homeware extension for the brand that sits perfectly in its formed universe.

The first collection, Totemic Devotion, aims to transform daily rituals into spiritual practices, drawing inspiration from ancient totems and prehistoric rock formations, which echo the brand's signature imperfect, molten textures. “There’s a beautiful synergy between how we create the jewellery and the Casa heirlooms. I begin each piece with blocks of wax and begin to carve forms and textures, heating my tools with the flame of a Roman Candle. I apply the same jewellery techniques to Casa,” says Rosh.

The collection includes candlestick holders, aquatic bottle openers, cutlery – inspired by tribal hunting tools – and tableware, all carved and transformed into gold and silver-plated brass through the ancient art of sand casting. “Each piece has a story and invites you to unlock your own. When I started Alighieri, my dream was always to create magical spaces and worlds; I’ve been collecting antique sculptures, vases, and candlesticks for the last decade,” she says. 

Totemic Devotion pays homage to Rosh’s personal making rituals, inviting her customers to create their own spiritual practices within their homes. The candlesticks, with silver pebbles as the base and gold totem formations, are designed to be foundations for flickering candlelight, ushering an atmosphere of reflection and storytelling. Parallels between food and jewellery are drawn, both a means for bringing people together, honouring the cross-generational sharing of knowledge and appreciation Rosh grew up with at home. 

“I love my home to feel like a ritualistic space, with each piece inside it an invitation for you to create your own rituals: from breaking bread at the table to lighting a candle at the end of the day,” concludes Rosh. 

Alighieri Casa is available exclusively on alighieri.com and in the Alighieri showroom.