Italy. It certainly makes us dream, with its Roman splendors, with its mythical history, with Rome so sung about by the great names of cinema - Roma,
Roberto Rossellini's open city, so sublimely enhanced by the late actress Anna Magnani - with its cuisine, haute couture and a shoe industry that stands the test of time. However, it never ceases to take us up the stairs of dreams, this time to meet a talent and creations that are more than grandiose: a genius in the art of jewelry and precious stones, Gianmaria Buccellati.
There was the great Fabergé, jeweler to Tsar Alexander III, there is the Buccellati line from Mario Buccellati to Gianmaria of the same name today, the last "king" of a jewelry so splendid, so magnified that it is impossible to describe it. These are unique pieces in the world, requiring months of extraordinary work for a single jewel - even if it were a ring - a collection of the most prestigious, on the same level as the jewels of the Crown of England and that the Buccellati family refuses to sell, preciously guarding this almost national treasure and only lending it to museums, during exhibitions. Buccellati creations have established themselves in the jewelry world and Van Cleef, Bvlgari, Chaumet or Boucheron, even if they were among the most renowned, compete with difficulty. Of course, while the latter offer a carousel of sumptuous jewelry on a global scale, Buccellati creates few pieces, but what pieces! Indeed, enough to make the greatest pale...
Gianmaria Buccellati puts so much love into his creations that he reluctantly discards them, and even more so, when the jewel doesn't suit this lady or that. Two other sanctuaries of Buccellati jewelry offer goldsmith aesthetes and the world's great elegant ladies a dazzling array of diamonds, emeralds, and sapphires of the purest waters: New York and the Place Vendôme in Paris. Animal themes, watches of rare beauty, even iPad and iPhone cases, Buccellati exhibits his creations and makes us dream for the time of magnified beauty. To make us dream. For one evening or forever. Immutable dreams in so many diamond rivers. Dreams are, certainly, expensive, but no matter, beauty deserves to be given the rank that befits it. Gold, silver, precious stones, including the diamond, enthroned like a sovereign among princely gems, the jewel is ethereal, delicate, and the baroque is refined. The jewel is no longer a jewel; it is simply perfection.
Fadéla Chaïm-Allami
Photo credit: Buccellati
