into a pair of mismatching earrings, adding moonstones to the top and sketching diamond briolettes to shiver along the fringes. It’s like watching an artist at work. Each high-jewellery design begins like this, with the loose stones; Silvestri follows their journey from beginning to end. “I know everything about each jewel: the weight of the rough, the cut, the price, the manufacturing; they are my babies,” she says. After decades of laying the foundations for designs, in 2013 she was named creative director. “For many years my position was hidden. So that was a strange moment – an honour, but a huge responsibility. I realised people are very interested in my job: for me it’s normal, but for most people it’s not. Especially because I’m a woman.” Gemstone buying is a male-dominated domain and at first, Silvestri struggled to be heard. “It was very difficult because I was a girl in a man’s world. When I started to negotiate, everybody would say, ‘I want to talk to Mr Bulgari.’” She had to cultivate a steely side. “My personality is divided into two parts: one very creative, the other business oriented.” Occasionally, she’ll still encounter suppliers who won’t negotiate with her. “OK, if you don’t want to talk, I won’t buy. Sorry for you.” While the Bulgari name – and her own reputation – have made things easier, there are new challenges; not least, increased competition for gems as more houses incorporate semiprecious and coloured stones. “When I started, we had just five stores. Now we have over 200 and the stones are becoming more rare and sought after. So we have to be more creative.” Sometimes she’ll see stones she recognises in other brand’s designs; those she’s deemed not Bulgari. “Maybe five per cent of sapphires are for 44
Bulgari. I don’t want to see all of the rest – but if it could be a Bulgari stone, I have to be the first.” Her suppliers had better heed this warning, “If not, they’re finished!” She’s a tough negotiator, and discussions can go on for months, years even. Sometimes she’ll ask suppliers to recut stones to make them lighter and more Bulgari, which they are loath to do, given that gems are priced by weight, per carat. She’s currently wrangling with one supplier, who she refers to as the “king of sapphires”, to recut 14 faceted sapphires into smooth, rounded sugarloaf cabochons. In his office, she arranges the stones into a bib-necklace shape, trimming them first with pink sapphires, then rubies. “The colour is fantastic, but the shape… They need to be sugarloaf,” she tells him. “One day you’ll decide to recut, I know you will. I trust you.” Recutting would be a risk for the supplier, because faceted stones are more popular than cabochons, and there’s no guarantee that Silvestri will buy. “It’s like theatre… he’s thinking about it,” she smiles. Patience is a virtue in Silvestri’s world; while a high-jewellery collection takes a year to design, it might take two or three to amass the stones. No wonder she has such an emotional attachment to the final product. “I’m happy when a piece sells,” she says. “When I see a woman enjoying wearing my baby, I’m a proud mother. But sometimes, for me, they leave too fast!” But soon enough she’ll be back running her hands through parcels of sapphires, delighting in the possibilities they hold. While the gem-buying market and her role have shifted dramatically over the last three decades, Silvestri’s love affair with Bulgari remains. “I like change, and in my private life I change a lot,” she muses. “But Bulgari was my first love, and it’s still my love.”
Sarah royce-Greensill / The Telegraph / The interview People
AIR
This page: Brooch in gold with sapphires, emeralds, mandarin garnets, pink tourmalines, and diamonds, 2014 Opposite: Sketch and stones laid out for the Secret Garden necklace in the Giardini italiani collection, 2015. Both images © antonio Barella all images from Bulgari: The Joy of Gems, Magnificent High Jewelery Creations, printed by assouline