Andria, Puglia (heel of Italy) · Est. 2020 · Founded by Raffaella Gemiti
Founded in 2020 in Puglia, Cibelle is a young, women-owned house with an old soul. From a studio in Andria, they collaborate with local artisans to revive the linens, ceramics, and tablescape traditions of southern Italy — the kind of pieces that anchor a table and the table that comes after it.
Cibelle was born in 2020 in Andria, a town in the heart of Puglia where the olive trees are ancient and the stone houses are conical and whitewashed. The brand is young; the crafts it works with are not.
Cibelle exists to give Apulian artisans a stage. Hand-thrown ceramics in the style that has shaped southern Italian tables for centuries. Renaissance lace. Papier-mâché made in a technique passed down for generations. Weavings from the olive wood that grows in the orchards outside their doors. Each piece is finished by the same hands that started it, made in small numbers and with great care.
The name comes from the Apulian dialect expression cibell, which roughly means what a beautiful thing! It is a phrase you say when something stops you in your tracks. The kind of thing you might say when you unfold a tablecloth for the first time. Or when you set a place at the table for someone you love.
