Why A Jewelry Designer—Any Designer—Needs To Create Their Own Language
Years ago, I was chatting with Francesco Vezzoli, and he asked me about designing modern opulence, and I was a bit shocked. I [sometimes] can be a bit reproached [about my work] because it looks like it lacks creativity, but when you create in a really pure sense of designing and forget about fashion, forget about doing a crazy piece of jewelry, you’re designing the way an architect works, through codes. And when you do very simple and systematic jewelry, it’s easy to do infinite versions— one row, two rows, twelve rows. That’s how you make a legacy and ensure the future of any other collection you do, because they speak with each other. There’s a lineage, and every piece is important. The best thing you can do [as a designer] is revisit all the traditional codes and reinvent them, wherever your inspiration comes from.
The Best Jewelry Should Be Ageless
When I was 20—younger, actually—my father was making these cascades of diamonds and pearls for me to wear, and I was like, “Thanks, Dad, but they don’t suit me at my age!” But by reducing the size of the floating diamonds, they can become more contemporary, more for everyday life. And at that point, it’s ageless jewelry. When a younger actress would wear ours, it suited her. But then you might have an older actress—a Cate Blanchett or an Isabelle Huppert—who would look at it and think It’s not for me, but then they try it on and they absolutely love it.
To Red Carpet—Or Not To Red Carpet?
I was always a bit hesitant about the red carpet: Cannes, for instance, was always so overcrowded [with brands], and it didn’t look very glamorous to me—the opposite, actually. And then slowly some actresses asked to wear my pieces—Tilda Swinton, for instance, though after seeing her in advertisements for other brands, I did think, Is she the right fit? And then Tilda visited and tried the jewelry on, and it looked better on her than anyone else—better than on a model, better than on me [laughs]. The jewelry looked like hers. And that’s important when you design jewelry: You’re making something to be worn, something you don’t want to ever remove. When I take off my rings, I feel naked.