New And Sculpturally Chic Peruffo Jewels Show At Couture Las Vegas

Forbes

a day ago

Made in Italy and transcending conventional fine jewelry formats and trends, Peruffo is distinguished by sculpturally daring designs that look and feel ergonomically elegant and architecturally avant-garde, all while being comfortable to wear. Designed by Creative Director Marta Martino with input from founder/CEO Enrico Peruffo, the jewels are conceived and handmade with an artisanal Italian savoir-faire that makes their pure structures, forms, materials, lines and curves live on the body in sensual and visual splendor. Embodying elemental, universal forms like pyramids, triangles and cubes, Peruffo jewels are fashioned either in precious metals set with diamonds and colored gemstones, or with distinctively hued and textured hard stones such as turquoise. In addition to showing new additions to their core collections named Slide, Studs, Guitar, Chains, Rocks, Love and Candy, Peruffo will be debuting its Blocks and Lyrics ranges at COUTURE Las Vegas from June 4 to June 8 in the Cristal ballroom, Booth #205. All of the new Peruffo designs elaborate on the brand's established codes while presenting new refined and rare sculptures to wear.
As Peruffo explained, 'The Lyrics bracelets create a special type of poetry in motion through the clash of brutalist architectural forms and psychedelic visions,' Peruffo wrote in an email. '18-karat black, yellow and white gold bracelets are embellished with diamonds in different formation patterns playing on repeated geometric modules with an elastic mechanism.' In the Blocks collection, 'Bold yet simple tactile shapes merge with movement and ergonomic principles to combine in stacks reminiscent of childhood building blocks.' Whether in matte finish or high shine options in 18-karat gold or gold set with pavé diamonds, each piece is designed with a system of advanced micro-titanium springs that allow for movement and opening. 'This results in a comfortable jewel with a fluid sculptural aesthetic,' he wrote.
Peruffo's distinctive aesthetic unites polished, punk silhouettes with Brutalist architecture forms and lyrical kinetic movement in classic, and therefore ageless, chic. While some of the larger pieces may look bold and even monumental, all Peruffo jewels are smart designs that live on the body like a second skin. In the case of earrings from past collections, they live in and around the wearer's body like tiny bejeweled satellites, drawing the attentions of others. Peruffo silhouettes are also striking in that they appear to be designed to adorn human beings, rather than merely specific genders. In this sense, Peruffo designs are molto 21st century, and yet reminiscent of some androgynous jewels of antiquity, such as those made in Italy during the time of the ancient Etruscans, circa 700 B.C.
It's worth noting that PERUFFO's Studs collection, received a record-breaking four nominations and two wins at the 2023 COUTURE Design Awards. This collection, designed by Peruffo Creative Director Marta Martino, drew inspiration from the Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky's memorable dictum, 'Point and line to plane.' Equally significant, Peruffo is deeply intertwined with Italian artisanal jewelry heritage and aesthetic excellence, as its parent company is a major luxury jewelry brand, Fratelli Bovo, s.r.l. which was founded in 1977.
This writer quizzed Enrico Peruffo regarding the alchemical processes that he and his Creative Director Marta Martino undergo each time they create a collection. To begin with, he detailed, 'For Peruffo collections we use both hand drawings to start and then CAD designs, rapid prototyping and 3D printing.' Working together on initial concepts, 'Marta and I and agree on our direction for a new collection,' he continued. 'She is a visionary and many times will draw inspiration from fine artists such as painter Wassily Kandinsky's works, on a journey to discover a unique exploration of music and jewelry.'
Martino, Peruffo related, 'Marta helps us to keep pushing the boundaries, creating collections that are disruptive in design. We want to continue to challenge the traditional idea of jewelry and create a new interpretation of these age old materials and techniques,' he explained. 'We analyze and explore new themes blending contrasting elements inspired by art, fashion and architecture and also by transforming subjects of our everyday life.' Very often, Peruffo elaborated, kinetic concerns, rather than static objects or drawings, animate the core of a given collection. For example, 'We have often started from the simple concept of a line or group of lines with movement, and how these can function, reflect or apply energy within a specific type of space,' he stated. 'We like to use innovative and dynamic movements with static objects, simple shapes or designs that reimagine possibilities. Sometimes these are more serious, sometimes more whimsical, and we look at many types of performative and artistic works for inspiration. We have big ideas and we are highly experimental in our approach for Peruffo,' he confessed, 'so some designs never make it to a collection.'
Customarily, Marta Martino sketches foundational ideas and key influences of the shapes or design elements on which a collection will be based. From there, Peruffo related, 'We move to an extensive research and analysis phase in order to ensure that the collection can be produced in a scalable production process.' Next, Peruffo utilizes over 100 in-house technologies to advance its production including latest generation manufacturing equipment.
As Peruffo explained, 'We specialize in types of production that many other factories cannot achieve for the brands they produce for.' While Peruffo uses these technologies and advances for their manufacturing as well as for his brand, human artisanal excellence is just as important to his production process. Master artisans skilled in assembly, master stone setters, polishers, finishers and quality control experts 'are all needed for our pieces,' he maintained, yet so are powerful artistic cornerstones around which new Peruffo collections can be built.
While Peruffo listed such Brutalist architects as Marcel Breuer, Aldo Loris Rossi and Paolo Portoghesi as major influences, the conceptual artist Sol Lewitt and architect and city planner Paol Soleri also earned special mentions. 'Something we often see in our collections are unexpected combinations, so I guess I have always had some connection to seeing the irony and the possibility in contrasts,' Peruffo mused. Contemporary jewelers who Peruffo rates highly include Delfina Delettrez, the fourth-generation heiress of the Fendi family, who founded her own company, Delfina Delettrez, in 2007, with the help of her jeweler father, Bernard Delettrez, who is based in Rome. Then there is Repossi, a heritage house famous for its upmarket minimalist designs, plus Charlotte Chesnais, whose exploration of curved and linear forms make her jewelry an ongoing adventure in style and substance. 'The Made in Italy brand Chantecler," Peruffo wrote, 'with their artistic creative pieces that are most often inspired by the nature of the unique surroundings of Capri, create absolutely some of the most interesting wearable art.' According to Peruffo, "The Made in Italy brand Mariani 1878, based in Monza, 'creates jewels of incredible detail and interesting use of stones and settings, including stark black high polish gold with floating white diamonds. These elements make their pieces highly identifiable and often unique.' Finally, the Made in Italy brand Miseno, which incorporates the terrain, seacoast and ancient mosaics of the Mediterranean as inspiration, is also of great interest to Peruffo.
Peruffo's expansive love of design, materials and high artisanship, plus his appreciation for other jewelry designers is echoed in a philosophical text on Peruffo Jewelry's website, "Many collections, one soul. Many identities making an organic whole, where all elements coordinate and exchange: a universe of diverse signs, forming a unique and recognizable language." Rooted in the narrative of jewelry history, Peruffo Jewelry embodies new forms and concepts in its designs while honoring its artisans and fellow jewelers.