The Story Behind NINA FITZ
NINA FITZ started in 2023, while I was on maternity leave with my first daughter, Cayetana.
Up until then, my professional life had revolved around marketing and e-commerce. It was a field I knew well — work that functioned, work I could almost do on autopilot. But when Cayetana was born, something shifted. Not in a dramatic way. There wasn’t a sudden decision or a single lightbulb moment. It was more a quiet, persistent feeling — the sense that something had been left behind for too long.
I realized I hadn’t worked with my hands in years.
Everything had become digital. Hours in front of a screen, producing things that — useful as they were — never really had any weight to them. Design had always interested me, but I started craving something more physical: touching a material, watching a shape slowly take form, feeling that what you’re making actually exists beyond the screen.
So I began experimenting.
At first I played around with Jesmonite. Once I realized how much I enjoyed working with it, I started pushing things further — learning 3D modelling, printing prototypes, making silicone moulds, mixing my own colour combinations. There was no plan, and starting a brand was the last thing on my mind.
I simply wanted to see whether I could bring together what I already knew how to do with something I felt the need to return to.
And that’s where it began.
THE NAME
No, my name isn’t NINA FITZ. I’m Rebeca Zambrano.
The name comes from two women who have been part of my life for years: Nina Simone and Ella Fitzgerald.
A long time ago I began collecting vinyl records. The first one I owned was Porgy & Bess, by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. It was a gift, chosen because of one song — Summertime — that had always held me in a way I couldn’t quite explain. There was something hypnotic about it, something that seemed untouched by time.
Later came Nina Simone. Her voice, her temperament, the way she seemed to move through the world with a kind of fierce clarity. I began reading about her life — her contradictions, her intensity, the force she put into everything she did. With Nina, it was impossible to separate the music from the person.
So when the moment came to name what I was building, there wasn’t much doubt. It had to come from these two women.
THE FIRST PIECE
The first piece I made was Ella.
It’s a jewellery box from the Minimal Essence collection, a series strongly influenced by Scandinavian design: clean lines, clear function, nothing unnecessary. Quiet pieces — never flashy — that work precisely because of their restraint.
For this piece I also had Japanese mochi in mind. Their rounded shape, that soft appearance that almost invites you to touch them. I wanted to translate that same feeling into an object for the home — something everyday, but with a slightly different presence.
It wasn’t perfect. But it worked.
And that was enough to make me want to make the next one.
BORN FROM CRAFT AND CODE
When I use the words digital craftsmanship , I’m not trying to invent a discipline or coin a new term. It’s simply the way I work.
Everything begins digitally. I model in 3D, testing proportions and adjusting volumes. Some shapes would be extremely difficult to achieve directly by hand, and digital design allows me to explore them with a level of precision that would otherwise be impossible.
Once the design feels right, I move into the physical stage. I print prototypes, create silicone moulds and produce each piece by hand using jesmonite. I mix my own pigments and, in some pieces, incorporate recycled metal shavings from a factory near my home. I also experiment with oxidation.
The structure is defined digitally. The finish happens by hand.
And it’s in that transition between the two that each piece becomes slightly different.
WHY NINA FITZ
Over time I began noticing something. More and more homes seemed to look the same. The same objects repeated again and again, the same neutral aesthetic. Everything tasteful, everything correct — but often missing something harder to define.
I remember walking into a friend’s house once and thinking that it could belong to almost anyone.
NINA FITZ was born partly from that feeling. From the desire to create objects with something behind them: a considered design, a process, a hand involved. Something more than decoration filling a space.
What I do isn’t traditional craft, and it isn’t industrial production either. It sits somewhere between the two.
Digital design provides the structure. The handmade stage introduces variation — small imperfections, unexpected decisions, subtle differences that can’t be programmed.
That space in between is where the work really happens.
WHAT'S NEXT
Right now two collections are available: Vittorio Dassi and Curved Chaos. Until recently there were four — Fundamenta and Minimal Essence were also part of the catalogue — but at some point I decided to produce less, and produce more carefully.
Because NINA FITZ was never about volume.
