Tiffany and Co. x Elsa Peretti Sterling Silver Bean Cufflinks
View Similar Items
Tiffany and Co. x Elsa Peretti Sterling Silver Bean Cufflinks
About the Item
- Creator:
- Metal:Sterling Silver
- Place of Origin:United States
- Period:2010-
- Date of Manufacture:contemporary
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Toronto, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU2034345421
Elsa Peretti for Tiffany & Co.
In an era of social upheaval, venerable Tiffany & Co. designer Elsa Peretti reimagined diamonds as jewelry that working women bought for themselves rather than receiving it from a suitor.
By the time the Italian-born Peretti (1940–2021) arrived in New York City, she’d already studied design in Rome, worked for a Milanese architect and taught Italian, French and skiing in Switzerland. She settled on interior design as her potential career path but then chose an altogether different route: modeling. Peretti modeled in Barcelona, Spain, and on the advice of Wilhelmina Cooper — a former model who’d by then founded Wilhelmina Modeling Agency — moved to Manhattan in 1968. When she relocated, Peretti was inspired to pick up jewelry design.
After modeling for designer Halston, the undisputed fashion king of Studio 54, Peretti became his close friend and collaborator, eventually creating jewelry and teardrop-shaped perfume bottles for him. By way of her association with Halston, Peretti took to the disco scene, flourishing in a social circle that included artist Andy Warhol and fashion designer Giorgio di Sant’Angelo.
It wasn’t long before models on di Sant’Angelo’s runway were donning two-inch sterling-silver vases, complete with a rose stem, suspended on leather thongs around their necks. The accessory was Peretti’s inaugural piece of jewelry — she designed it in 1969 after finding a flower vase at a flea market. It was hardly the only time that Peretti found motifs in nature and in organic forms. In the years that followed, her Bean pendant necklace, Starfish earrings and other sensuous accessories would draw on human emotion as well as the natural world around her. Each evocative and wholly versatile design is universally adored decades later, and each was made for a storied American jewelry house with which Peretti would be associated for nearly 50 years.
It was Halston who introduced Peretti to Tiffany & Co. She had her own boutique at Bloomingdale’s by 1972, and her partnership with the firm, which signed the venturesome and unorthodox designer to an exclusive contract in 1974, would cement her place in the lofty annals of jewelry legend. Peretti’s simple but sophisticated designs — the Teardrop collection, her minimalist Diamonds by the Yard necklace and Open Heart ring, to name a few — elevated sterling silver, previously considered unsuitable for fine jewelry, and created an enthusiastic young audience for Tiffany’s offerings. In 1977, Peretti’s designs earned the jewelry house more than $6 million. (In some years, her work has accounted for 10 percent of the company’s sales.)
In 2012, Peretti signed a 20-year, $47.3 million contract with Tiffany & Co., but she passed away in 2021, at age 80. Today, her designs are in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the British Museum.
Find an exquisite collection of Elsa Peretti jewelry today on 1stDibs.
- 18 Karat Yellow Gold Interwoven Square Mother of Pearl Agate Rubies CufflinksBy AVGVSTALocated in Milano, ITThese classic cufflinks are made of mother of pearl and feature a front face shaped as a square with a striking texture that mimics an interwoven fabric. The squares are adorned in ...Category
2010s Italian Cufflinks
MaterialsAgate, Ruby, Gold, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
- 18 Karat Yellow Gold Black Enamel Shoes CufflinksBy AVGVSTALocated in Milano, ITThis charming pair of cufflinks is an elegant addition to a woman’s closet and feature a front face shaped as a beautiful shoe with heel made of 18k gold, adorned with a diamond and ...Category
2010s Italian Cufflinks
MaterialsWhite Diamond, Diamond, Enamel, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
- 18 Karat Yellow Gold Jade Mother of Pearl Sapphire CufflinksBy AVGVSTALocated in Milano, ITThese exquisite cufflinks feature a round shape for both front face and toggle and a delicate color palette, thanks to the warm green of the jade and the iridescent transparency of t...Category
2010s Italian Cufflinks
MaterialsJade, Sapphire, Blue Sapphire, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
- 18 Karat Yellow Gold Cufflinks CarnelianBy AVGVSTALocated in Milano, ITThese timeless cufflinks are minimalist and elegant. Their front face and toggle is identically shaped as an elongated hexagon made of carnelian. The warm red of the stone perfectl...Category
2010s Italian Contemporary Cufflinks
MaterialsCarnelian, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
- 18 Karat Yellow Gold Lapis Lazuli Rubies Octagonal CufflinksBy AVGVSTALocated in Milano, ITThis elegant pair of cufflinks made in lapis lazuli features a cylindrical toggle and a front face shaped as an octagon with a convex, multifaceted surface and a central ornament ma...Category
2010s Italian Cufflinks
MaterialsLapis Lazuli, Ruby, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold, Gold
- Double Square 18 Karat Yellow Gold Cufflinks in Pale Blue Topaz with Rubies RubyBy AVGVSTALocated in Milano, ITThis striking pair of cufflinks is made of pale blue topaz, whose delicate shade is highlighted by the traditional “fesonato” texture given to both the front face and toggle. These t...Category
2010s Italian Cufflinks
MaterialsRuby, Topaz, Blue Topaz, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold