Revisiting a daringly defying era for the House, Bvlgari turns to gold and steel once more
Fortune has always favoured the bold: those who have dared defy traditions and those who have looked to ingenuity in times of pressure and restraint. It is unsurprising to me, then, at least that Bvlgari’s latest interpretation of a time-honoured tradition sees a re-emergence of clashing codes—one that in turn, gives the House its strongest edge.
Bvlgari began experimenting with the combination of gold and steel in the 1970s, when the compulsion to rebel really took hold. It was a decision thought radical, and almost unpalatable. After all, for a high jeweller, steel was long regarded as a material outside the traditional hierarchy of precious metals, associated more with utility than ornament. But it is that very preconception that gives steel its edge in jewellery—resistance and durability hold great value in precious creations, despite being notoriously complex to shape into delicate forms. And quite daringly, the jeweller here introduced a dialogue with gold, a noble metal whose social and material currency has been revered for centuries.
Evidently, a positive reception was delivered in spades. Among watches, High Jewellery, and the popularity of other industrial codes such as Tubogas, Bvlgari found a foundation for its avant-garde design language, and set the tone for further curiosities to come: porcelain and ceramic.
And so now, some fifty years on, Bvlgari returns to this initial exploration with a suite of its most-loved motifs: two B.zero1 rings, which already have a sturdy, genderless, architectural appeal; a Tubogas jewellery set; and, released in Geneva earlier this year, the Serpenti Tubogas Studs Capsule watch collection.
Alongside these pieces with more everyday appeal is something more of a feat: an audaciously beautiful three-piece High Jewellery collection with a very clear reference point. It returns to that bold rebellious spirit with a new curiosity—or rather, a curiosity that has always remained—forging in gold and steel and diamond, what the pinnacle of luxury might look like for another fifty years to come.
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