Vhernier Abbraccio

Vhernier has a progressive approach to modern jewelry rooted in patience with meticulous attention to detail. The Italian brand was founded in 1984 in Valenza, a historic jewelry city, as a goldsmith’s workshop. It crafts timeless rings, earrings, bracelets and other fine pieces. 

Carlo Traglio, a former bottler and distributor for Coca-Cola, was a passionate collector of Vhernier jewelry before, in 2001, he acquired the company. Angela Camurati, Vhernier’s co-founder and design lead, insisted on two conditions: first, that the design philosophy could not change. The second condition was that the company would stay in Valenza.

Vhernier continues to be boldly different, and that is as true in their designs as their production methods. In the same town as jewelry giants BVLGARI, Fope and Damiani, Vhernier has workshops specializing in various aspects of its creations. Pieces travel from goldsmiths, to gem setters, to polishers before reaching a quality control headquarters.

Vhernier’s most iconic piece, the Calla necklace, took years of conceptualizing to perfect a cone-shaped design that has remained largely unchanged since its inception. The conical motif is adaptable and provides a consistency across necklaces, bracelets and earrings. Calla necklaces have been released in titanium, ebony and platinum, bringing this enduring favorite into the 21st century.

The exclusive Vhernier Bridge bracelet is another exemplary piece with smooth sides and precise edges which feature hidden diamonds and gemstones between sections. Each Bridge bracelet takes 45 days to create, with the company producing around eight per year.

On 1stDibs, find a collection of Vhernier rings, bracelets, earrings and more.

Rooted in centuries of history of adornment dating back to the ancient world, modern jewelry reimagines traditional techniques, forms and materials for expressive new pieces. As opposed to contemporary jewelry, which responds to the moment in which it was created, modern jewelry often describes designs from the 20th to 21st centuries that reflect movements and trends in visual culture.

Modern jewelry emerged from the 19th-century shift away from jewelry indicating rank or social status. The Industrial Revolution allowed machine-made jewelry using electric gold plating, metal alloys and imitation stones, making beautiful jewelry widely accessible. Although mass production deemphasized the materials of the jewelry, the vision of the designer remained important, something that would be furthered in the 1960s with what’s known as the “critique of preciousness.”

A design fair called the “Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes” brought global attention to the Art Deco style in 1925 and gathered a mix of jewelry artists alongside master jewelers like Van Cleef & Arpels, Mauboussin and Boucheron. Art Deco designs from Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels unconventionally mixed gemstones like placing rock crystals next to diamonds while borrowing motifs from eclectic sources including Asian lacquer and Persian carpets. Among Cartier’s foremost design preoccupations at the time were high-contrast color combinations and crisp, geometric forms and patterns. In the early 20th century, modernist jewelers like Margaret De Patta and artists such as Alexander Calder — who is better known for his kinetic sculptures than his provocative jewelry — explored sculptural metalwork in which geometric shapes and lines were preferred over elaborate ornamentation.

Many of the innovations in modern jewelry were propelled by women designers such as Wendy Ramshaw, who used paper to craft her accessories in the 1960s. During the 1970s, Elsa Peretti created day-to-night pieces for Tiffany & Co. while designers like Lea Stein experimented with layering plastic, a material that had been employed in jewelry since the mid-19th century and had expanded into Bakelite, acrylics and other unique materials.

Find a collection of modern watches, bracelets, engagement rings, necklaces, earrings and other jewelry on 1stDibs.