|Objects| Avant Garden
|Objects| Avant Garden Italian jewellery house Pasquale Bruni’s captivating feats of design are inspired by the beauty of nature – and the natural beauty of its wearer. By Avril Groom From top: rose-gold and diamond Aleluiá Combination choker; rose-gold Petit Joli ring set with turquoise and white-moonstone doublet and diamonds For Eugenia Bruni, jewellery is about enhancing the femininity and strength of the woman who wears it. The creative director of her family firm, founded in 1968 by her goldsmith father, Pasquale, is the epitome of a glamorous Italian woman, dressed in simple yet striking shapes that act as a foil for her own creations. On the day we meet, at the Haute Jewels Geneva show where Pasquale Bruni is a leading exhibitor, she is wearing a necklace of bold leaf shapes with contrasting sculpted gold and pavé-diamond surfaces, sparkling as the light strikes them when she moves, and showing the brand’s vaunted Italian craftsmanship. Eugenia has been at the creative helm for over twenty years, and the firm is a tight-knit family concern, based in the Italian jewellery hub of Valenza, where Pasquale founded it and where he retains a passion for the designs created by Eugenia and her brother Daniele who, as the company gemmologist, searches out the best, most inspiring gems. Apart from wonderful stones, the brand’s main source of ideas is the natural world. There are currently three main motifs on the themes of flowers, leaves and butterflies, though shapes can metamorphose from one to another depending on how Eugenia proportions them and on how the client sees them. In Giardini Segreti, the leaf shape transforms into a four-petalled flower in pavé, or shiny, sculpted and gold-edged in diamonds when it sometimes becomes a butterfly. When the bottom petal is elongated it looks like an abstract cross, or even an orchid. Another signature motif is a rounded, five-petal flower in many different stones and colour mixes from delicate moonstone and pink chalcedony to rich green agate and lapis lazuli. It is PHOTOS COURTESY PASQUALE BRUNI 44 CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM
Right: white-gold and diamond Giardini Segreti ear cuff; below, from left: three-ring Bouquet Lunaire ring in 18k rose gold, set with moonstones and white diamonds; creative director Eugenia Bruni used in various sizes, from singles to multiple strands in collections such as Petit Joli and Bon Ton. All collections stack and mix with each other so the client can create a jewellery “wardrobe”. This works across price too, says Eugenia. “We have affordable pieces, still with our DNA, that appeal to younger clients but which can be mixed with other pieces as they ‘grow’ as women, choosing items that express their true selves.” To her, nature and femininity are closely linked. “The calmness and pleasure we feel when in nature I hope is expressed in women’s souls when they wear my jewellery,” says Eugenia. “My vision is jewels with an energy and essence that embrace the woman, which we make tangible through continuous research and craftsmanship. Connecting with these natural elements makes women stronger, and I admire strong, confident women”. As a female jewellery designer, she feels very attuned to her clients’ needs. “Much of my research is on the anatomy of the body and how light plays on it, and on the jewellery,” she explains. “This creativity is very intimate, devoted to capturing the beauty of the world in jewellery made of infinite details.” Those details are one of Pasquale Bruni’s most notable features – the traditional lost wax metal process that creates very fine moulding, secret ways of creating sculpted, fluid-looking larger pieces, hand gem-setting of minuscule pavé diamonds, private details such as a tiny diamond inside or a little extra motif among the larger ones on a long sautoir, all created by artisans working at individual benches. In the modern world, it is not easy to find young people willing to take on the long, painstaking training this involves. “It takes courage and perseverance and we all feel that mastering jewellery-making is ongoing – we all continually learn, to be part of innovation,” says Eugenia. “Luckily, some young people are curious and want to focus on fine details so as not to lose the goldsmith’s art. They work closely with our older artisans to learn this tradition, and a sensibility to beauty alongside technical excellence.” The final secret of Pasquale Bruni’s success is, says Eugenia, “our appreciation of the senses and vibrant beauty. We have savoir-faire and expertise but also we are a warm family – you can feel the love we instil in our creations. We work with our heart.” Pasquale Bruni jewellery is available at J Farren-Price in Sydney; jfarrenprice.com.au CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM 45
