Controversa meets Silvia Benedet

Silvia Benedet, social media manager and content creator, draws maps and travel illustrations. Back roads, local towns and vintage aesthetics are her unique and unmistakable formula. She gives us an ironic and funny interpretation of Christmas Day: all the typical actions of the period require an exceptional, emotional and real transport. Hers is a narrative of a (month-long) journey: an eager wait for December 25th.

Hi Silvia! We'd like to ask you to introduce yourself: we'd like to do it in Controversa way though! Thinking of a box containing a kit to tell something more about you, what would we find?

Hello girls! In a Silviabes’ box surely there is a book with lots of ears, watercolours, rolls of film, a slightly scribbled map, various lists and some hairpins.

What aspects of your work do you like the most?

That moment (which almost every time I'm afraid won't come, but then fortunately it almost always does) when you can see in your head the precise form you want to give to the concept you want to express, you understand how to imprint your style and your vision on it, and you can throw yourself headlong into its realization. And let’s be honest: shopping for papers, sketchbooks and colors too!

Looking back, what has been a challenge in your career path?

Does what I am going through now count? I have just started working again after maternity leave, my baby has just turned one year old, and there was a pandemic in between. I feel the need to reprioritize, to take my career path in a new direction, one that corresponds to the new version of myself.

What have been the particularly bright moments?

When I launched the Ink Your Travel brand together with my friend Irene back in 2015. Remembering the enthusiasm, the heartbeat, the "beautiful" fear of those days is like the fresh air you breathe at dawn.

How did your illustration for Merry Controversa come about?

More than the Christmas day itself, which brings with it its load of relatives, swollen bellies, forced proximity, small disappointments, I have always loved the anticipation of Christmas. The arrival of the cold weather, getting the boxes of decorations out of the garage, hanging the lights, cooking together, choosing presents for your loved ones, coming home. And, of course, buying the tree. With this pattern I wanted to tell the story of that month-long journey, that trepidation.

How would you like your box to be reused by those who buy it?

I would like it to become a story of their winter, a place to keep safe the memories of these cold and cozy months: a few Polaroids, a cinema or museum ticket, a postcard, a list of books read, a small pine cone collected during a walk in the mountains.

Controversa was created as a tool for different businesses: what would you like for your professional future? Are there any other tools you feel you need?

I would definitely like to have my own shop with my own prints and small accessories. Among these, I would also like to create illustrated materials for children, with their little boxes. Controversa ones, of course.

To whom would you recommend Controversa?

To anyone who wants their expeditions to be both rich in personality and as sustainable as possible.

And now a very Merry Controversial question: if your Christmas was a playlist on Spotify what would you make us listen to?

I'll put on a Northern Soul record and then we'll dance together in the living room with a glass of wine in hand, shall we? Perfect Christmas party.