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Sergio Antonini, the third generation of Antonini jewelry designers, opens up about his earliest memories of the business and his greatest inspirations.

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ANTONINI jewels are made exclusively in Italy and reflect a powerful bond with the city of Milan, and its fashion and jewelry-making traditions. Founded in Milan in 1919, the ANTONINI brand instantly became a favorite of the Italian aristocracy. In 1989 the third generation of ANTONINI jewelry designers, Sergio Antonini designed a new line of high-end stylish jewelry, reinterpreting the family tradition with contemporary designs. Almost 30 years later, he continues to interpret the brand’s history as creative director, designing extraordinary collections and unique pieces.

What is you earliest memory of the business?
My first trip to Paris with my father. We visited Place Vendome which at the time was completely overtaken by the most prestigious jewelers from across the globe. 

If you weren’t working for Antonini, what would you be doing?
I would be an architect for sure.

 What inspires you?
I would have to say, without a doubt, architecture and contemporary art. Maino’s volumes, Carla Accadi for her prints, Anish Kapoor for his concave mirror sculptures.

 You’re very well versed in gemology. Which three stones are your favorite, and why?
I attended the Gemological Institute of America in New York, where I studied diamonds and colored stones. My three favorites would have to be; the diamond, not for the intrinsic value of the stone but for the ‘non-color’ that allows it to be paired with any type of stone. The Ceylon Sapphire because it isn’t too dark, it’s a wonderful vibrant blue. The Moonstone because when it utilized with a Cabouchon cut it maintains its color, albeit slightly opaque.

Where and how are each of the collections produced?
The collections are entirely handcrafted in Italy, more specifically Milan. The final product is a result of the craftsmen who represent excellence in production within the industry.

CROCE DEL SUD

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‘Croce del Sud’, a unique ring designed exclusively for LUISAVIAROMA. The piece is part of the Extraordinaire Collection, a couture collection personally designed by Sergio Antonini for its sophisticated clientele.

In the ‘Croce del Sud’ ring the extraordinary central stone is a precious natural and certificate deep blue sapphire from a mine in Sri Lanka. The 7.32 carat stone is surrounded by a flow of white gold in its natural color, studded with 337 diamonds of various sizes that form a cross on the stone: the Southern Cross which is one of the brightest constellations and features of the southern sky.

The pavè become an organic form that surrounds the stone with a soft wave of white diamonds on a white background with an unmistakable brightness; outside a band of larger diamonds on black background creates an intense color scheme that highlights the sinuous curves of the frame.

SIRACUSA

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Continuing their play on geometry, Antonini builds on these elements as the inspiration for the new 2016 collection, Siracusa. Featuring a customized design for LUISAVIAROMA.

The name Siracusa references the birthplace of Archimedes, a Sicilian city, rich in Greek history from where a great deal of philosophical and mathematical thought is derived. The Siracusa collection plays with geometrical shapes such as circles, ellipses and curves intersecting to form crosses and orbits. Distinguished by the clean gold lines each piece is then illuminated with singular rows of bright white diamonds. Antonini has customized the Siracusa criss cross bracelet exclusively for LUISAVIAROMA, substituting the bright white diamonds for rich rubies.

AUREA

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Hammered gold bent into sinuous organic shapes and encrusted with diamonds alludes to the preciousness of primordial materials crafted with age-old techniques, in a construction marked by clean lines and a contemporary design.

The purity of the metal clearly emerges in yellow gold, the quintessential colour of this metal since antiquity. It is a collection with encircling forms that evoke the stylistic tradition of ANTONINI, which for this collection has created golden meanders emphasized by asymmetrical pavés of diamonds that gently cloak the female body.

BLACK & WHITE

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ANTONINI talks again about gold and its infinite variations with Black & White, a collection made in natural white gold.

The innovative result is a softer tone of color that enhances the color of the diamonds and flatters every skin tone. Smooth off-shaped ovals become rings, pendants and earrings, the pendants dangling from a double chain with different surface finishes, in polished black or white gold. The natural color of the white matted gold, gives a satiny hue to the curved surfaces, while the optical motif of interlocking ovals covered in black or white diamond pavè reminds us of the 70s but with a definite contemporary taste.

Credits:
Special thanks to: Sergio Antonini
Images courtesy of ANTONINI

IP-0A0050E5 - 2024-03-28T16:16:51.8634201+01:00