The Magnificent Inspirations:  Bulgari Extols the House’s Key Motifs

This summer the Italian House Bulgari debuted an extensive high jewellery collection named The Magnificent Inspirations. The first showing took place at a villa in the Port du Cap d’Ail (Monaco), where over 70 jewellery pieces and watches were presented to guests, after which the items were presented to a wider public in Paris.

The collection, created under the leadership of Bulgari’s creative director, Lucia Silvestri, has absorbed all of the house’s fundamental motifs – azure, elements of antiquity, the trademark flower with four petals, festoons, a serpentine theme – it is precisely for this reason that you could dare to call the collection a retrospective. But the house’s habitual motifs are unlikely to be perceived as boring imitation – some have been reworked until they are unrecognisable, updated in a new, fresh, modern and brave way. On the whole, this entire unique collection can be divided into three sub-collections: Italian Extravaganza, Mediterranean Eden and Roman Heritage. Let’s have a look at each of them individually.

Italian Extravaganza. The principal design motif of this sub-collection – is a variation on the theme of the fan-like design of the Diva, which was inspired by the marble tile pattern in the Baths of Caracalla. This shape finds its way into the collection in the form of magnificent polychrome necklaces, pendants, bracelets and rings. Adorned with unique precious stones in the brand’s trademark colours, the pieces fascinate not only with their beauty but as an attractive investment. For example, in the Gemme Straodinaire necklace an 11 carat Burmese ruby is used which Lucia Silvestri acquired at auction as part of a vintage jewel. She sought out the 7 Colombian emeralds in the Gemme Principesche necklace over the course of two years in Hong Kong, New York and Geneva – they are all from different mines and were all recut by the house’s craftsmen.

Mediterranean Eden. The dynamism of nature has been a fruitful theme for the house, providing inspiration for new jewellery pieces for over 130 years. The naivety of a flower’s petals or the sensuality of a snake – this sub-collection is built on contrast. The floral part consists of open necklaces and voluminous pendants, but the “serpentine” part was, in a sense, a revelation. The ornamentation becomes more severe, more geometric – earrings and cuff bracelets made from several stretched hexagons, which link to imitate a snake’s scales. Here you will also find impressively sized earrings, pendants and necklaces in the form of a snake’s head, which are hard not to notice and a curled up snake in the ring which is barely perceptible at first glance.

Roman Heritage. With its beauty, history, culture and grandeur, Rome serves as a source of inspiration for Bulgari’s designers again and again. The city’s spirit is close to the house, in its gemstone cabochons that embody the ancient domes, in the gold and sparkling stones that reflect the bright sun, and in the geometry that imitates the cobble stones. The sub-collection includes jewellery with the same motif as the significant Parentesi collection, which was extraordinarily popular in the 1980s.

Bold and beautiful necklaces and bracelets made of gold and diamonds have undergone significant alterations in their design, which has become much softer and more elegant.

Many jewellery houses leave the best technique and motives exclusively for their high jewellery collections. Bulgari, however, does not like to be stingy and daringly uses its beloved motives in more modest, everyday pieces of jewellery. Let’s hope that the same will happen with The Magnificent Inspirations – a collection which is rich not just with wonderful stones but also with new trends.