Bvlgari’s new high jewellery collection, Eclettica, is one of its most ambitious yet. Eclettica is composed of 160 pieces across the categories of high jewellery, watches, handbags and fragrances. The high jewellery includes 15 transformable creations, 50 ‘millionaire’ creations and nine ‘capolavori’ or masterpieces. With Eclettica, Bvlgari takes another step in its journey of creating a new style of high jewellery marked by design audacity, technical mastery and exquisite gemstones. Eclettica is Bvlgari's most ambitious release and a clear statement of commitment to the concept of ‘artsmanship’ where artistic intuition is brought to life by outstanding craftsmanship.
As its name suggests, the collection's richness of inspiration and styles expands the definition of daring. From neoclassical to art deco, or modernist to Moorish, the narrative behind Eclettica reveals an opulent and free-flowing interpretation of creativity in high jewellery.
The Emerald Strata necklace (main image) in rose gold assembles five sugarloaf emeralds from Zambia into a cravat-like structure that drapes with surprising suppleness for a piece of such architectural intent. Nearly a year was spent sourcing stones of the required calibre and consistency. The Eclectic Embrace collar takes its geometry from the Moorish mosaics of Sammezzano Castle near Florence, its 180 modular elements engineered to allow a rigid form to move with ease.
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The diverse array of jewels shares a consistent method that draws on Bvlgari’s appreciation of sculpture, painting and architecture as creative sources. Each discipline contributes in its own way: sculpture introduces volume and the play of light; gemstones are arranged with painterly skill and, architecture brings proportion and a pleasing rhythm.
Among the Capolavori, the Seres Scarf necklace (above) in white gold is the most technically demanding piece. Constructed from more than 1,180 individual components over 1,600 hours, it moves like draped fabric, its sapphires and emeralds arranged in a woven pattern drawn from art deco geometry and Tamara de Lempicka's ground-breaking paintings. A detachable brooch set with a 31.90-carat sugarloaf sapphire from Sri Lanka can be placed at any point along the length: transformability at its most creative and free-spirited.
The Secret Garden necklace (above) takes a different approach, building its composition entirely around a 26.65-carat Padparadscha sapphire from Sri Lanka that Lucia Silvestri, Bvlgari's Jewellery Creative Director, spent years hunting down. The surrounding arrangement of baguette cuts, onyx inlays, purple sapphires and cabochon emeralds is deliberately restrained, giving the central stone room to shine out.
The collection's treatment of the Serpenti motif, Bvlgari's most persistent visual signature, runs through several of the Capolavori. The Serpenti Infinia bracelet (above) in white gold devoted 1,385 of its 1,800 total craftsmanship hours to diamond cutting alone, including a one-of-a-kind 7.49-carat stone developed exclusively for this piece that sits in the head of the snake, its sinuous body wrapping four times around the wrist.
A second snake bracelet, the Serpenti Spira (above) is in very different style, in the form of a cuff inspired by the power of Roman columns. The clasp-less cuff easily slips onto the wrist. As if warming itself in the Roman sun, a writhing serpent rests on the ‘column’ set with white and yellow diamonds, its body rippling with diamonds and onyx scales. Lucia Silvestri describes the jewel as: art in wearable form.’
The collection's red carpet moment arrived at the Academy Awards just a week before the official launch of Eclettica, when two pieces appeared on the Dolby Theatre stage that same evening. Priyanka Chopra Jonas wore the Serpenti Illusio necklace (above) in white gold, with a central 14.01-carat antique cushion-cut sapphire from Madagascar, set in a serpent's silhouette that, at first glance, reads like a visual pun as pure geometric abstraction.
In diametrically opposed style, the Neoclassical Starlight necklace was worn by Anne Hathaway, a high-wattage design featuring an 8.02-carat pear-cut Fancy Vivid Yellow diamond set in platinum, surrounded by an additional 35 carats of diamonds. The actress completed her look with the transformable Daphne's Laurel earrings set with Fancy Intense Yellow and white diamonds, inspired by the myth of Apollo and Daphne.
The haute horlogerie pieces follow the same ambitious trajectory and include the Notte Stellata Divas' Dream (above), whose black opal dial maps the night sky above Rome in 753 BC, the Pavone bracelet watch, and the Serpenti Dea Secret watch.
Eclettica confirms that Bvlgari, with its mastery of myriad talents, dares to free its creativity beyond the confines of traditional high jewellery, bringing something exciting, new and awe-inspiring to this most precious of jewellery arts.
