Damiani Belle Epoque

When Enrico Grassi Damiani opened a goldsmith workshop in Valenza, Italy, in 1924, he established a brand that would completely change the jewelry industry. The seductive shapes that he sketched were translated into sculptural gold Damiani necklaces and rings and accented with diamonds and other precious stones, garnering the attention of Italy’s upper class. The jeweler’s designs, inspired by cityscapes as often as they were flowers and other natural-world forms, would find loyal patrons in the wealthy and now are celebrated as timeless works.

Even today, a ring Damiani designed during the early 20th century in tribute to Queen Margherita continues to inspire the Margherita collection with its daisies of diamonds and gold. One of Damiani’s 1920s designs was the Charleston necklace, a collier with a feather shape adorned with approximately 1,000 diamonds, inspired by revolutionary American-born French dancer and singer Josephine Baker, who’d taken to the stage sometimes clad in little more than pearl jewelry and a feather skirt.

For the next 40 years, Damiani maintained its status as the premier jeweler to Italy’s elite, adapting to restrictions on materials during World War II with pieces that saw an innovative integration of metal alloys and iron. After the war, Damiani’s son, Damiano Grassi Damiani, took over the family business and catapulted the Damiani name onto the international stage.

In the 1970s, Damiano led Damiani to become one of De Beers’s main partners, associating the Italian name with luxury and opulence in high-quality diamonds. He also introduced catalogues, which guaranteed fixed pricing, something radical for fine jewelry. In 1976, Damiani won the prestigious Diamonds International Award for its Shark bracelet, which Damiano’s wife, Gabriella Colombo Damiani, designed using two-toned gold and diamonds.

Following Damiano’s death in 1996, Gabriella took the helm, bringing on her three children — Silvia, Guido and Giorgio — to help oversee the company’s creative direction. In the 2000s, its expansion included new boutiques around the world as well as celebrity collaborations, such as the line of jewelry designed by actor Brad Pitt and goldsmiths in Valenza now available for customers as the D.Side.

Other celebrity partnerships included Sharon Stone, who collaborated on the Maji line to support clean water in Africa, and the Sophia Loren collection, which was inspired by the iconic style of the Italian actress. In 2009, Damiani designed the Harlequin Fantasy Bra for the annual Victoria’s Secret fashion show. The garment took 15 artisans more than 800 hours to craft by hand using 2,355 colorless and cognac-colored diamonds.

Today, the company continues to innovate creatively on its heritage with an eye toward the future, from the timeless Belle Époque collection, inspired by the sketches of founder Enrico Grassi Damiani, to diamond-adorned Apple watch covers.

Find a collection of Damiani jewelry for sale on 1stDibs.

Gold is the feel-good metal, the serotonin of jewelry. Wear vintage and antique gold necklaces, watches, gold bracelets or gold rings and you feel happy, you feel dressed, you feel, well, yourself. 

Gold, especially yellow gold, with its rich patina and ancient pedigree going back thousands of years, is the steady standby, the well-mannered metal of choice. Any discussion of this lustrous metal comes down to a basic truth: Gold is elementary, my dear. Gold jewelry that couples the mystique of the metal with superb design and craftsmanship achieves the status of an enduring classic. Many luxury houses have given us some of our most treasured and lasting examples of gold jewelry over the years.

Since its founding, in 1837, Tiffany & Co. has built its reputation on its company jewelry as well as its coterie of boutique designers, which has included Jean Schlumberger, Donald Claflin, Angela Cummings and Elsa Peretti. There are numerous gold Tiffany classics worth citing. Some are accented with gemstones, but all stand out for their design and the workmanship displayed.

For the woman who prefers a minimalist look, the Tiffany & Co. twist bangle (thin, slightly ovoid) is stylishly simple. For Cummings devotees, signature pieces feature hard stone inlay, such as her pairs of gold ear clips inlaid with black jade (a play on the classic Chanel black and tan), or bangles whose design recalls ocean waves, with undulating lines of lapis lazuli and mother-of-pearl. And just about any design by the great Jean Schlumberger is by definition a classic.

Even had he eschewed stones and diamonds, Southern-born David Webb would be hailed for the vast arsenal of heavy gold jewelry he designed. Gold, usually hammered or textured in some manner, defines great David Webb jewelry. The self-taught jeweler made very au courant pieces while drawing inspiration from ancient and out-of-the-way sources — East meets West in the commanding gold necklaces made by Webb in the early 1970s. The same could be said for his endlessly varied gold cuffs.

In Europe, many houses have given us gold jewelry that sets the highest standard for excellence, pieces that were highly sought after when they were made and continue to be so. 

Numerous designs from Cartier are homages to gold. There are the classic Trinity rings, necklaces and bracelets — trifectas of yellow, white and rose gold. As a testament to the power of love, consider the endurance of the Cartier Love bracelet.

Aldo Cipullo, Cartier’s top in-house designer from the late 1960s into the early ’70s, made history in 1969 with the Love bracelet. Cipullo frequently said that the Love bracelet was born of a sleepless night contemplating a love affair gone wrong and his realization that “the only remnants he possessed of the romance were memories.” He distilled the urge to keep a loved one close into a slim 18-karat gold bangle. 

BVLGARI and its coin jewelry, gemme nummarie, hit the jackpot when the line launched in the 1960s. The line has been perennially popular. BVLGARI coin jewelry features ancient Greek and Roman coins embedded in striking gold mounts, usually hung on thick link necklaces of varying lengths. In the 1970s, BVLGARI introduced the Tubogas line, most often made in yellow gold. The Tubogas watches are classics, and then there is the Serpenti, the house's outstanding snake-themed watches and bracelets.

A collection called Monete that incorporated the gold coins is one of several iconic BVLGARI lines that debuted in the 1970s and ’80s, catering to a new generation of empowered women. Just as designers like Halston and Yves Saint Laurent were popularizing fuss-free ready-to-wear fashion for women on the go, BVLGARI offered jewels to be lived in. 

Since Van Cleef & Arpels opened its Place Vendôme doors in 1906, collection after collection of jewelry classics have enchanted the public. As predominantly expressed in a honeycomb of gold, there is the Ludo watch and accessories, circa the 1920s, and the golden Zip necklace, 1951, whose ingenious transformation of the traditional zipper was originally proposed by the Duchess of Windsor. Van Cleef's Alhambra, with its Moroccan motif, was introduced in 1968 and from the start its popularity pivoted on royalty and celebrity status. It remains one of VCA’s most popular and collected styles.

Mention must be made of Buccellati, whose name is synonymous with gold so finely spun that it suggests tapestry. The house’s many gold bracelets, typically embellished with a few or many diamonds, signified taste and distinction and are always in favor on the secondary market. Other important mid-20th-century houses known for their gold-themed jewelry include Hermès and Ilias Lalaounis.

Find a stunning collection of vintage and antique gold jewelry on 1stDibs.