Interviewed by Arianna Chirico / ayra_ayra

ORNELLA BIJOUX will be exhibiting at HOMI FASHION&JEWELS EXHIBITION 11 - 14 March 2022
A dedication to sustainability, craftsmanship, design and manufacturing with the ultimate accuracy. HOMI FASHION&JEWELS EXHIBITION explores a cultural challenge, is sustainability an utopian fantasy or a possibility?

Ornella Bijoux has a very powerful history, can you tell me something about its origins? 

Ornella Bijoux is a jewelry atelier, founded in 1944, during the Second World War. Its history is linked to four generations of women: my grandmother, my mother, me and my daughter. In 1944 my grandmother worked as a secretary in a famous perfume company, Gi. Vi. Emme by Visconti Di Modrone. She lived in a condition typical of many women of the time: she was a widow, with three children and a decent salary. The war had made it difficult to meet the demand for alcohol for the production of perfumes, as well as to find gold, which at the time was sold by widows to support themselves or was offered to support the homeland. The Gi. Vi. Emme possessed an extensive commercial distribution network, but having no raw materials to produce perfumes, it was stalled. Thus, Visconti Di Modrone had an intuition: to contact Calderoni Gioielli in Veneto, which lived in the same condition, because it was unable to produce jewelry, not having gold and proposed a collaboration between the two companies: Calderoni would have made costume jewelry and Visconti Di Modrone would have commercialized it. When both gold and alcohol returned to the market, the two companies concluded agreements to continue separately with their respective productions. The bijoux collection created between the two companies was set aside, but Visconti Di Modrone proposed to my grandmother to buy it and take care of it personally. Thus, leaving the economic security of a moderate but certain salary, my grandmother started her adventure in the world of bijoux, buying the business. My mother, who was 14 at the time, immediately took part in the project, spending the last year of the war on a bicycle ride with her, under the bombings, with cardboard suitcases on her shoulders that kept the jewelery samples, throughout Lombardy and Veneto and moving even further south.

Who created the jewels?

For a few years, they had a jewelry designer. Then, growing up my mother, who had never studied neither drawing nor art, but probably already possessed this incredible artistic talent within her, she always drew everything herself. She had a brilliant mind, she let herself be fascinated by the most unthinkable things and turned them into jewels. She loved experimentation in all forms: she used the most varied objects for her creations, from stones to cork, collecting an archive of about 30,000 pieces, sought after by a market niche that loves vintage and history. My mother passed away in 2019, but she was awarded the title of master of art by the Cologni Foundation, which annually awards all Italian excellence. Ornella Bijoux has an important and authentic history; she boasts collaborations with fashion houses such as Dolce & Gabbana, Celine, Borbonese, Bichi. She has a peculiar style that we have tried to keep steady over time, while updating it and contextualizing it to the times we live in, through more contemporary, young and pret-a-porter creations and more accessible prices.

Who is the creative mind at this time?

Since my mother is gone, I have been running the company, helped by my daughter in managing social media. I was born and raised constantly surrounded by jewels. I remember that as a child, as soon as I woke up, I used to come to the oce, which at the time was attached to our house, and had breakfast surrounded by our employees and by tables submerged in stones and beads. I followed a long apprenticeship with my mother, but now, thanks to her teachings and the passion that has always distinguished us, it is I who take care entirely of all the creative parts of it, letting myself be inspired by the most varied things. Our maison's archive has such a vast amount of jewels that I could even stop creating. The style that has always distinguished us has been liberty and decò, great passions of my mother and then mine too, always contaminated with other things, such as ethnic style and a significant diversity of materials, such as recycled plastic or cork, or pebbles taken to the river to make the charms of the bracelets.

Ornella Bijoux has been awarded the prestigious recognition of "Historic workshop of Milan". How do you live this legacy now in your hands?

It is a very heavy legacy, but I am very proud of it, of course. I am flattered by all kinds of appreciation for my family's work, which built a jewelry empire out of nothing. An American e-commerce was created through the Cologni Foundation for Italian artisan excellences and now the title of art teacher, which belonged to my mother, has been inherited from me. I have never felt like her, but I live this important recognition with great respect and admiration.

What are the main sources of inspiration from which you draw to keep creativity alive?

I observe a lot of the society and especially young people, from whom we draw more than we think. They are a constant source of inspiration, because they represent the future and contemporary taste. I like to create with them in mind, while maintaining the style that has always characterized the maison, with a strong propensity for nature, such as leaves, flowers, textures, and animals. I follow trends but I love to keep alive the unique style that distinguishes our creations. For example, the trend of giant rings that has been raging on the market for some years is a creative choice that we had already adopted decades before, due to the fact that my mother had created about 4000 brooches, of which a part was subsequently transformed into rings. The same pins will be a focal point during our participation in the Homi 2022 fair in Milan, weaving the continuous lines with the trends of the moment, without ever distorting our brand identity.

Is everything handcrafted?

Yes, each creation is diligently handcrafted by professional jewelers. The act of creating a jewel, as it was for my mother, never starts from a sketch. Each idea is transformed into a tangible and concrete object directly in the workshops, according to the possible techniques to be used for the creation of the jewel. Often the idea evolves and consequently adapts to the materials and stones chosen. Each creation is replicable, but is presented as a unique piece, because it is never the same as another as it is totally handmade. Each jewel can be customized according to the customer's creativity, making it more authentic and personal.

Can your creations also be considered sustainable?

The manufacturing is totally handcrafted, so from this point of view they can be considered made in Italy products. Our sector, however, is experiencing a profound crisis, due to the scarce availability of raw materials. I feel profoundly lucky, because having such an important and conspicuous archive, I can draw from it to promote and create new objects. The search for new materials is limited and this is probably the reason why there is an oer on the market that lacks homologation.

So is it more complicated to create than in the past?

Absolutely yes. I continue to work in my maison, because I have a strong passion for jewelry and for the legacy that my mother and grandmother left me. However, it is dicult to cope with a market that has suered a strong arrest: my suppliers have decimated themselves over the years and this is a defeat for the entire sector. I live on continuous gratifications which are among the most flattering things you can expect when you invest so much love in what you do. Unfortunately, I came to an awareness: Italian craftsmanship is little appreciated in Italy, because we are used to the excellence and beauty that invades any place in this nation, almost taking them for granted. We are appreciated much more by foreign countries.

Have you experienced a change in your clientele over the years?

Yes, there was a natural selection probably due to the costs of our creations. The level of the user has increased. The crisis that is aecting us has pushed us towards a new approach to purchases: if before there were customers who came into the atelier and bought jewels for 2000 or 3000 euros, now it is easier for the same person to buy a piece of 300 euros. Those who were used to buy diamonds and precious jewels continue to do so without problems, but currently some of our creations can also be purchased in jewelers, thanks to a wider proposal from the point of view of the materials used and consequently of the prices, to offer a product that can adapt to the most varied needs and above all to a pocket that is not able to invest in such high figures. The only segment less adaptable to the market for us is that of necklaces, which are generally created to be pieces so special and important that they are not easily usable by anyone.

How did you experience the pandemic?

This pandemic period has helped me a lot. We never stopped and I continued to make appointments and to meet clients, within the foreseen limits, constantly dedicating myself to work. From an artistic point of view it was a very flourishing moment, thanks also to having more time to reflect and think. It was an explosion of creativity.

What are your pieces of the heart?

There are some pieces that I really like, which belong to collections of the past, some of which my mother designed for Bichi, in the 1960s. I am fascinated by these jewels, showy and brilliant, like some thirty-strand necklaces embellished with crystals and micro-beads. They have a deep bond with our maison: they are the emblem of what we were and what we will be, since I am trying to re-propose them contextualizing them to our historical period.

The necklace you are wearing right now is very beautiful.

Usually I don't like to wear a lot of jewels, immersed in them every day, but having to choose, the earrings are the ones I prefer the most.
Today I decided to wear this necklace, made with a ceramic pendant, with which we used to make rings, brooches, brushes, but which we no longer produce now. I had found a box with shapes similar to this one, oval and slightly elongated on which some letters of the alphabet were engraved. So I had a hammered collar made to complement the necklace. For the Homi Fair, I decided to present a very similar collection, with a rigid and thin collar and a more precious and imposing pendant, so as to reconcile tradition and the past with original and contemporary ideas.

I know your collections have been shown in costume jewelry exhibitions.

Many of our creations have been featured exhibits in museums, such as the one at the Casalmaggiore Museum in Cremona, which is the only one in the country dedicated exclusively to bijoux. They were exhibited at the Palazzo Reale in Milan, as part of the exhibition dedicated to the history of Italian jewelry; at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London; at the Jewelry Museum of Vicenza; at the Arengario of Monza; while now they are part of a traveling exhibition organized by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage in collaboration with the Polytechnic and Professor Alba Cappellieri.

You are going to take part in the Homi Fair, but also in the exhibition that will be held there simultaneously.

Yes, there will be an exhibition, in collaboration with the Polytechnic, entitled Be Free, for which they asked me to choose jewels that could reflect this need for freedom. It wasn't exactly simple, but through a meticulous study, I selected some representative pieces for me that could highlight the freedom of being able to always wear whatever you want, without prejudice, including: a choker from the Sixties, which has vibes that currently we could ironically associate with sadomasochistic; jeweled braces embellished with Swarovski; a rigid and braided necklace; glasses with unique and unrepeatable frames, enriched by jewels on the sides; necklaces with colored paper clips, etc.

Ornella Bijoux has worldwide fame. In your opinion, what is the power to be able to be unique at a time when there is so much competition and homologation?

The secret is to feel what's inside, follow your feelings and be inspired by that. When you create you must always start from your own personality and originality, without allowing the creativity of others to contaminate us and make us unsure of our potential. We are all dierent individuals in this world and each of us has a mind and heart that focuses on unique and dierent passions and points of view: from the outside we should only be influenced in a constructive way.
My approach to creation is linked to the idea that a jewel should be an investment for life, which always makes you want to wear it, even after years or decades. I create jewels that can last as long as possible and that tell a little about the wearer, that are chosen not because they are fashion items, but because they are fascinated by their beauty. And beauty lasts forever, it has no time.