Bulgari’s breathtaking blooms

PARIS — Bulgari was in full bloom when it launched its latest collection, “Italian Gardens,” at their Paris boutique. There were 100 unique pieces inspired by the art of the garden — the geometric hedges and blooming flowers of the Italian Renaissance.

Bulgari’s designers were inspired by nature, transforming precious stones and metals into works of art like the “Blue Iridescence” necklace — a showstopper featuring 184.48 carats of enormous blue sapphires that took Bulgari three years to collect from different parts of the world. This extraordinary set of gems is ringed with 81.13 carats of pink spinels and clusters of diamonds totaling 24.75 carats.

Bulgari’s major executives were present for the launch, like lovely Lucia Silvestri, Bulgari’s jewelry creative director, who has been with the company for 35 years. In the early days, she was the only person besides Bulgari brothers Nicola and Paolo to make major gem purchases for the company. She was very young when she joined the company and was advised “to select and acquire gems only if you could see a possible use for them.”

Her combined talent for spotting high-quality gems and envisioning the finished product in her mind is irreplaceable. Today she heads a team of specialized buyers, replicating what she used to do alone. She attributes her success to her passion for the job and believes that the energy of the gems keeps her young. She maintains that she is an independent woman in a masculine world.

“Bulgari is design, is contemporary, is color,” Silvestri says. “I hope to give it a more feminine touch. I want women to wear my jewelry like a second skin.”

Sapphires are Lucia’s first love. She also likes spinels, a very versatile gem often mistaken for rubies. “In terms of color, there are vivid reds, pale pinks, green or blue, but spinels have the same brilliance as diamonds.”

‘Break the rules’

Fabrizio Buonmassa Stigliani, director of the Bulgari Watches Design Center, used to design for Fiat. He exercises his skill in combining style and manufacturing into the making of Bulgari watches in Neuchâtel, Switzerland.

 “The shape of a vehicle must suggest its use, its performance, and in some cases a dream; watches have the same goals, but with the added, perhaps harder, challenge of fitting all this in a space 40 millimeters across.”

His mission is to constantly reinterpret Bulgari’s Italian heritage in a contemporary language. His caveat: break the rules and make a product that doesn’t yet exist. The result? Bulgari’s stunning “Geometry of Time” watch collection.

Creating desires and dreams

Jean-Cristophe Babin, CEO of Bulgari, came from a mass-market background, and his training to pay attention to detail worked when he moved to the luxury business 15 years ago. He believes that people do not need luxury functionally, but emotionally: “We need to create a desire, to create a dream.”

Bulgari perfumes, for example, are bought by people not only for the fragrance, but to enter the world of Bulgari.  And what a world that is!

Babin runs the company with five pillars: jewelry, watches, perfume, accessories, and hotels. Each business has a general manager who reports to him. He acts as their sparring partner, defining the key priorities, but leaving room for people who are more specialized to run their specific areas of focus.

With Bulgari’s Italian DNA, Babin continues to inspire passion, daring, even audacity in the company. “If not, you will never deliver a ‘wow’. There could be a crazy combination of gems or 110 angles on a watch — all these must surprise the customer.”

He relates that Bulgari (Sotirios Voulgaris) himself was a daring entrepreneur who moved from Greece to Rome at the age of 18 and changed his trade from silverware to jewelry.

This latest “Italian Gardens” collection not only delivers, it makes one gasp (Is this for real?), palpitate (supremely beautiful gems perfectly crafted), and, yes, say, “Wow!”

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In the Philippines, Bulgari is located at Greenbelt 4.

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You can reach me at cecilialicauco2@gmail.com and Instagram: cecilialicauco2.