Buccellati: fine jewelry and beauty to wear
Buccellati: fine jewelry and beauty to wear
Buccellati is one of the most prestigious fine jewelry firms in the world. Synonymous with unparalleled beauty and quality, the history of this Italian family business –represented in Spain exclusively by the Montiel jewelry store in Pamplona– begins with Mario Buccellati, the founder of the establishment and a visionary, a man who was able to understand and interpret his own era to the point of surpassing it. In the process, he managed to forge a style that still bears his name more than a century later. “Buccellati style is an evolution that is born of its creator, of my grandfather, Mario, who left a very strong mark on the brand; subsequently, each generation has applied Buccellati’s techniques, design, and style, reworking them in their own way but fully respecting the soul of the brand,” explains Andrea Buccellati, a member of this saga’s third generation.
Mario Buccellati was born in Ancona on April 29, 1891. After the death of his father, he moved with his mother and siblings to the great city of Milan in the early twentieth century. As soon as he arrived, he got an apprenticeship with the goldsmiths Beltrami and Besnati, whose business was located at Via Santa Margherita 5, between La Scala and La Galleria. It was there that the young Mario learned the best of the Italian goldsmithing tradition – its ancient techniques and materials. Mario also acquired knowledge on how to manage a workshop and how to select master craftsmen and craftswomen, while also learning about the tastes of the clients. As the attentive and curious observer that he was, he embodied the Milanese spirit –that air of discreet and dignified elegance– and became a main symbol of “Milanesity” in the field of goldsmithing.
At the end of the First World War, Mario decided that the time had come to create his own company. And, so, he took charge of Beltrami and Besnati’s business and opened his first shop at the same address where said establishment had been located. From that moment on, a success story based on tradition, excellence, high quality, and research into the finest materials began to be written – a story which has led the Buccellati brand to recently celebrate its first centenary. From Mario’s first masterpieces to Andrea’s sophisticated pieces, not to mention Gianmaria’s sumptuous creations (a second-generation member of the saga), the family has reinvented traditions, using creativity and originality to bring technical innovations, material innovations, and shape and type innovations to the goldsmithing trade, conceiving unique and unparalleled jewels with original and exclusive motifs: know-how and creativity, a combination that has made the Buccellati style famous and incomparable.
The hands of the Buccellati family and of their master goldsmiths combine passion for craftsmanship with Italian creativity, employing complex techniques such as the enchaining technique, the tulle technique, the lace technique, the twisted thread technique, and the engraving technique to honor the memory of the expert goldsmiths who preceded them – all the while forging a path for those who are to come. These techniques are the pillars of the firm, and one of the main reasons why it has become famous.
Enchaining is the addition of compositional elements on the back of the jewel by means of small links, in order to obtain maximum flexibility. This method allowed Mario to create his famous gold-lined silver bracelets.
The tulle technique, also known as “honeycombing,” is a unique openwork technique that consists of piercing the sheet with a saw for metals until creating a network of small, polygonal holes. This network can be enriched with applications in gold or precious stones. To obtain perfection and consistency in design, each cell must be reworked with a handsaw at least five times. It is a labor-intensive process requiring great skill and an extreme level of precision to execute.
For the lace technique, Mario was inspired by the refined Venetian embroideries made with Burano needles, whose patterns he transposed using a delicate piercing method. The resulting effect is that of a soft lace, obtained by creating empty spaces with geometrical or leaf shapes that are pierced by hand into the metal following patterns enriched with incisions or gems – reminiscent of soft, light, lace embroidery.
The filo ritorto or twisted thread technique is a way of working in which a special tool is used to extrude the gold, transforming it into a fine thread that is then twisted back upon itself.
As for engraving, Buccellati uses five different techniques: rigato, segrinato, telato, ornato, and modellato. The rigato technique consists of engraving many fine lines parallel to each other, creating a silky shine reminiscent of textile textures. The rigato effect is a key feature of the Macri Collection, one of the brand’s iconic lines. The segrinato technique is an interlaced style of dense weave engraving that requires very labor-intensive work; the texture is produced by engraving crossed, overlapping, and multidirectional dots, achieving a delicate and light luminosity reminiscent of velvet (many of Gianmaria’s naturalistic creations depicting peonies, begonias, and anemones were made with this unique technique). The telato effect is achieved by engraving cross-hatched lines that intersect at right angles to create an effect very similar to the texture of linen. Ornato is an ornamental motif echoing the golden patterns of rich brocades, damasks, and lace, which were extremely valuable Renaissance luxuries and symbols of European courtly prestige. Lastly, the modellato technique is the most complex of them all, in which ornamental shapes are reproduced to create a three-dimensional effect in high relief. It is often used in naturalistic-themed designs containing leaves and flowers. Mario used modellato to pay homage to the great goldsmith sculptors of the Renaissance period.
These techniques have propelled Buccellati to the top of fine jewelry and, thus, the brand has come to be linked with great names in fashion, art, politics, and the aristocracy such as Joe Patterson, Elisa Sedanoui, Carolyn Murphy, Zhang Ziyi, Gregory Peck, Jacques Chirac, Marcello Mastroianni, Anouk Aimé, Helmut Newton, Peter Lindbergh, and Beatrice Borromeo. Likewise, the firm’s work has been recognized by important institutions such as the Moscow Kremlin Museums and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, who have dedicated anthological exhibitions to Buccellati, a firm that has managed to preserve its stylistic identity for more than a hundred years.
Buccellati
Montiel Joyero
Avenida Carlos III 50, Pamplona.
Tel.: +34 948 233 099
