Italian jewelry house Damiani celebrates its 100th anniversary
The Damiani 100 X 100 Italiani exhibition is dedicated to the anniversary, dedicated to the heritage of the family company, the essence of which is handcraft and Italian design. Milan’s Galleria d’Italia displays exactly 100 jewels, one for each year of Damiani’s century-long history. They are selected to follow the theme of the “Italian approach to creativity.” This “Italianness” is understood as a combination of aesthetics and techniques of decorative and applied art, harmony and a special sense of beauty, and is rooted in the Renaissance. For Renaissance artists and humanists, “Italian” was synonymous with “beautiful” and “well made.”
Despite the obvious historical perspective, it was decided to select for the exhibition not archival jewelry, but new, specially made jewelry. However, they were made in compliance with the craft traditions of the past, and therefore with a minimum of machine technology.
The flagship will be the Mimosa Eternal Blue pendant, featuring an incredible blue sapphire found in Sri Lanka, weighing exactly 100 carats. The cushion-cut gemstone is surrounded by diamonds in the characteristic Damiani mimosa pattern (this is the name of one of the brand’s main collections). The pendant can be attached to a necklace or worn as a brooch.
Today Damiani, a family company with its own production in Valenza, is managed by the third generation, Silvia Damiani and her brothers Guido and Giorgio. The brand gained international fame thanks to the son of the founder, Damiano Damiani, who was one of the first in the jewelry segment to begin filming advertising campaigns involving celebrities. Over the years, Damiani ambassadors have included Brad Pitt, Isabella Rossellini, and Sharon Stone. “We are the last of the independent jewelry brands. All the legendary Italian names now have international owners,” Damiani is proud.
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