Editor’s Note
This article explores the hidden world of high jewelry, where the most extraordinary creations often emerge from the most unassuming places. It reminds us that true luxury values discretion, and that the greatest treasures are not always found behind glittering facades.
The industrial zones of cities are a mystery. The grayer and more nondescript they are, the more intrigue and treasures they may hold. In the case of Villa Aurelia, Bulgari’s high jewelry laboratory on the outskirts of Rome, the surprise is immense. The charmless, style-less building, situated in the middle of nowhere on the edge of a roundabout, has no sign indicating that we are approaching one of the great temples of luxury in Western culture. Anonymity and discretion are virtues in the high jewelry business. The door is made of opaque glass and the windows are protected with thick curtains. To enter, security measures are strict. Armored doors open and close. Passports are requested days in advance, and the movements of both insiders and outsiders are logged. Throughout this visit, we will not be able to photograph any goldsmiths. Their lives depend on it. Every day, emeralds, rubies, rare and extremely expensive diamonds, and a lot of high-carat yellow gold pass through their hands. They safeguard jewels and valuable raw materials. It’s better that no one knows who handles and has daily access to those stones, or for whom polishing and setting the world’s most coveted jewels is just part of their daily routine.
From this nondescript villa came the Hypnotic Emerald necklace worn by actress Zendaya at the latest Venice Film Festival. Lucia Silvestri, Bulgari’s creative director, recounts that she waited seven years for the stone—a gigantic emerald that was in Jaipur—to be sold to her; then two to three weeks to cut it, and finally about 2,000 hours of work to complete the piece in the workshop.
Inside Villa Aurelia, 60 goldsmiths are currently working on the next high jewelry collection. Concentration is at its peak, and so is the protection to prevent any attempt at industrial espionage. About 200 unique and exclusive pieces are created here per year. The rest of the models are sent to the giant Valenza manufacture in Piedmont, where part of the process is industrial, but in this Roman workshop, almost everything is made following artisanal rituals. Each artisan specializes in specific functions, and they divide the work to develop the collections.
Villa Aurelia is home to the great specialists in polishing and setting, and it is a great school of trades. Each senior artisan is assigned an apprentice, and the training can last between five and six years. Caring for the *mani intelligenti* (intelligent hands), as they call it in the Italian house, means preserving ancient crafts that always seem to be in danger. The goldsmiths wear white coats with the logo of the Italian house founded by Sotirios Bulgari in 1884 and use magnifying glasses to work with the smallest stones.
From the moment an idea emerges and the first 2D sketches are drawn until the piece is finished, it usually takes between 8 and 10 months. In this laboratory, the volume and weight of the jewel are decided, along with the mechanical details to ensure the flight and movement of pieces designed by the team led by Lucia Silvestri, a constant presence at Villa Aurelia in soul and spirit. Every jewel we see, no matter what stage of the process it is in, must be supervised by Lucia, a gem expert and great connoisseur of the house, which she joined over 40 years ago. Prototypes are created in 3D, modeled in wax and plaster before being cast in metal, but before and during, the designer must give her approval. This explains the comings and goings of armored cars that carry the half-finished jewels to her studio in the building that Bulgari has in the center of Rome.
But this morning, it is she who lands at Villa Aurelia. She has just returned from Tucson, Arizona, USA, from a gemstone fair.
Today, Silvestri has several designs to supervise, and in the workshops, nerves are beginning to show. If she does not give her approval, the prototype must be started from scratch. She is demanding; she learned with the Bulgari brothers and has the mission of preserving the stylistic and historical references of the house.