Manuela Catania is an Italian designer and artist based in Mumbai, India.

She defines herself as a Sensory Designer, weaving together architecture, design, art, and jewellery through a distinctive poetic vision. 

In 2022, she founded Olfelita, a brand that embodies a Sensory Realm, where jewellery, fashion, and wearable art become vessels of memory, touch, and emotion. “I design what I visualise in my dreams and what resonates with my soul.” Her lifelong love for art and jewellery stems from her father, an Italian goldsmith and gemologist, who taught her the value of craftsmanship, the harmony of colour in gemstones, and the timeless elegance of precious metals.She is the creator of Realm of Senses, an immersive project of sensory textile installations that transform interior and public spaces into meditative environments, dissolving boundaries between architecture, sculpture, and sensation. Rooted in a conscious and sustainable approach, the project incorporates crafts, reused textiles, fabrics, and remnants that carry traces of time, gesture, and previous lives, and has been published in academic research. Her recent works include The Five Senses of the Future, presented at the Countless Cities Biennale 2021 within the Hong Kong Pavilion at Farm Cultural Park, Favara, Italy, and DIL – The Heart is the Center of the World for PDKF’s Artisan Collective 2026 at the City Palace, Jaipur, India.

Manuela holds a Master’s Degree in Architecture with highest honours (110 cum laude) from the University of Architecture in Palermo, where she completed an experimental thesis in Urban Planning and Urban Design titled Urban Spaces, focused on the redevelopment of the Trapani waterfront. She furthered her education with a Master in Jewellery and Accessories Design at Domus Academy in Milan and a Master of Arts from the University of Wales in 2009. Her exploration of the design world led her to specialise in Fashion Design at IED Moda Lab in Milan and in Fashion System at the European Design Institute in Venice. During Milan Design Week, she presented her inaugural jewellery collection crafted from Murano glass, developed in Venice.

In 2012, her career took her to São Paulo, Brazil, where she immersed herself in the country’s vibrant design scene. She later lectured in Fashion Design at Esmod University in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and collaborated on numerous international projects. In 2017, she initiated the sustainable design project Visionupia, sharing her expertise across multiple countries. That same year, she coordinated the Shapes of Dreams Sustainable Fashion Design project with children from the Children’s House La Rosin in Bali and organised the Hong Kong | Palermo Fluid Cities International Workshop between Raffles Design Institute Hong Kong and the Polytechnic School of Palermo, pioneering an innovative online urban design methodology.

Manuela has held significant academic and leadership roles, including Fashion Design and Fashion Marketing Programme Coordinator at Raffles Design Institute Hong Kong, where she taught Interior Design and Fashion Marketing. She also taught Introduction to Interior Design at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Division of Humanities, and supervised final-year Interior Design projects for the University of Derby’s BA (Hons) in Interior Design at Raffles Design Institute Guangzhou. In recent years, she has worked as Visiting Academy at the University of Saint Joseph (USJ) Creative Industries, Macao, focusing on Interior Design Studio with an emphasis on Sensory Hospitality Design. Additionally, she has been a Jewellery Design Lecturer at AVA Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University, teaching Sustainable Design Thinking and Wearables Design, and coordinating the Art of Plastic Sustainable Design Workshop in collaboration with HKUST + Vibes.

She continues her academic engagement as a Design Educator and Unit Leader in Product Design at Istituto Marangoni Mumbai, India.