Gem talk with jewellery historian Amanda Triossi on Bulgari’s 130th anniversary

“The only word Elizabeth knows in Italian is ‘Bulgari,” said Richard Burton. If that comment wasn’t a precursor to turgid consumer culture and the messy squandered line between cultural capital and economic capital, I don’t know what is. As Glass has recently been learning, Bulgari’s long-standing blend of classicism and modernity, an emblem of rousing Italian craftsmanship and creative pizzazz since 1884, is the real potent clout behind “made in Italy”.

But we forgive Liz, after all, she’s Elizabeth Taylor, and you have to know a thing or two about precious jewels and men, to procure quite the number of both. One of Taylor’s most impressive conquests, the famous Bulgari emerald suite, is currently on show at the V&A’s major spring exhibition The Glamour of Italian Fashion, which if you haven’t visited yet, go.

image009Bulgari jewels at the V&A exhibition, The Glamour of Italian Fashion 1945-2014. Photo by Nick Harvey  

image004Necklace and brooch pendent set in platinum with emeralds and diamonds, 1962

image002Emerald ring set in platinum with diamonds, 1961

image005Tremblant brooch set in platinum with emeralds and diamonds, 1960

Rarely seen on public display, the suite, set in platinum with a flow of diamonds and emerald keynotes, is in many ways the exemplification of the exuberance of Italian style during this period. However, the statement jewellery brand, which stepped up as the proud sponsor of The Glamour of Italian fashion, has always successfully purveyed a high-level of prestige. Now, whilst celebrating its 130th anniversary, Glass talks to Amanda Triossi, jewellery historian, archivist and curator of the Bulgari Heritage collection to get to the bottom of what made Andy Warhol salute the flagship Via Condotti store in Rome as “the best gallery of contemporary art”.

When it comes to the way the ice crumbles Amanda, what would you say were the peak years for precious jewellery?
Well, the turning point for Bulgari was the 1960s, when a stylistic identity is forged and you can see the signature ingredients being used in a different way. Throughout the decades, that is the challenge, to have an identity but to rework it and make it current, if you stand still, you’re lost.

If the fashion of the day is sure to instruct forms of contemporary jewellery – how is jewellery doing in 2014?
Contemporary fashion certainly dictates in terms of the types of jewels that are worn and the shapes. Jewellery relies on clothes to a large extent, in the 1980s, for instance, large structured jackets could support bulky brooches, but now, sadly, brooches are out. In that way, fashion is the backdrop. Personally, I think the jewel dictates the dress you should wear, take the line of a necklace, for which you should have the right dress, and not the other way around, the jewel enhances the dress. And in 2014, I think Bulgari is fairing very well because it knows the key is to be inventive, be creative, be of the moment, but importantly to keep your own identity.

You often talk about Bulgari as a much-lauded art form, through which nothing is left to chance?
Jewellery is an art form, like any other art form. Although unfortunately it is often stigmatised due to the mass markets who relate its integrity to its number of carats, but you don’t go to look at a Picasso and say is it canvas or is it wood, and how much did the paint cost. Yet that’s how you look at jewellery. For Bulgari it’s about getting the message across that it’s not only about intrinsic value, it’s art with an intrinsic value.

The Glamour of Italian Fashion is at the V&A until July 27

by Liam Feltham

Images courtesy of Bulgari