Inside The Italian Jewellery House Of Buccellati

Maria Cristina Buccellati takes Avril Groom behind the scenes of this storied family jeweller – part of Richemont since 2019 – in Milan.

We Went Behind The Doors At Buccellati

When I last visited Buccellati’s Milan workshop some 20 years ago, it was in a well-appointed but anonymous apartment in a quiet, almost suburban corner of the city. It could have been a spacious home, though traditional jeweller’s benches and the entry hall displaying some of the family’s famous, ornately crafted silver objects – not to mention the uncommonly sturdy, multi-locked door – rather gave the game away.

Today, the same air of quiet concentration fills a large, historic building opposite some casually preserved Roman ruins (that’s Italian cities for you) in an unassuming area near the centre. Life has changed for what many regard as the finest practitioner of luxury Italian gold jewellery and silversmithing, with an unmistakable style based on finely hand-textured gold and silver and even finer metal ‘lace’ that mimics the delicacy of silk tulle, described as ‘not all gold but all air’.

Six years ago, this proud family company became part of Richemont, the world’s third-biggest luxury goods group and a major player in high-end watches and jewellery. The group – which also includes Cartier, Piaget, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Van Cleef & Arpels – applies a light hand, retaining each house’s strong identity and craft heritage.

Becoming Part Of The Richemont Group

For this fourth-generation firm, the resulting changes are positive. Fittingly, the Richemont deal came exactly a century after the house was founded by Mario Buccellati, grandfather of Maria Cristina, the global communications director. ‘Family members who were involved still are, and some of the fourth generation are joining us,’ she explains. ‘We are continuing with our high-level crafts but now we have investment to expand in established and new areas. We also have confidence to explore new creative directions, like the bejewelled evening bags we recently launched, each one unique. As often, we were inspired by items in our archive from the 1930s, but we had not created anything like them for many years.’

Mario Buccellati started as a 14-year-old apprentice in a Milan goldsmith’s atelier, rising to become its master and eventually, because the owner had no successor, taking it over in his own name. ‘He loved working with gold and silver but equally he loved textiles, especially silk, velvet, linen, lace and brocade. His hallmark became recreating their textures in Italian gold engraving,’ explains Maria Cristina. Inspiration came from the ornate and delicate work of Renaissance jewellery, set with flawless coloured gemstones and diamonds, mixing gold with tiny engraved elements of silver, which must be faultlessly soldered together in creations for which the word ‘exquisite’ might have been coined.

Despite his passion for the past, Mario could also be a modern visionary. In the 1930s, he designed the Hawaii collection, formed of twisted gold thread circles arranged in complex garlands and chains. They still look current and remain top sellers.

By the time Maria Cristina’s father Gianmaria took over, Buccellati was a byword for elegance and precision handcraft – not just in Italy, but also in cities like New York and Paris. ‘When I was 16 I asked him for a bracelet, but he said I was too young,’ she recalls. ‘When I was 18 he designed me a narrow gold one in the silky rigato engraving with little silver star motifs, each with a tiny diamond. It was named Macri, my nickname, and it has become one of our most popular styles.’ She claims she is ‘not gifted creatively, but I felt that as a woman I could explain to my father what women would like from jewellery. I could be useful’. She has found her métier in promoting the brand worldwide, while her brother Andrea heads up the creative side.

Looking to the future

The current HQ of Buccellati was designed in 1919 by noted Milanese architect Piero Portaluppi in modern style, and it is still spacious, quiet and focused. Small wonder, as the traditional processes of high jewellery and silverware-making require formidable concentration, often through a loupe or microscope. Artisans take regular breaks and a sense of camaraderie pervades, whether chatting over coffee or at benches where apprentices work adjacent to masters. Buccellati partners with a local goldsmiths’ school on a thriving MA course and, says Maria Cristina, ‘despite stories about today’s youngsters not being interested in traditional crafts with prolonged training, our applicants feel it’s an achievement to get on a course or apprenticeship because they know they will have the best training’.

The brand has access to almost 200 artisans, in-house and at outlying workshops, and there are plans to increase that number considerably over the next three years to meet growing appetite for bespoke items. ‘We will never give up our design DNA or our artisan standards, but our designs have become bolder in response to modern demand, seen in our big new hoop or drop earrings.’ Maria Cristina could equally have cited the lush curves of large, convex Macri cuffs or the opulence of the Baroque-looking Opera watch – all best viewed at the Milan flagship in a 19th-century palazzo with restored frescoes, mosaics and a private piano nobile with spellbinding examples of unique jewellery, silver objets, and restored vintage pieces.

The house is entering a new era of expansion with a higher profile, and Maria Cristina has no regrets about ceding independence. ‘Richemont wants to preserve brands and sees passionate family members as the soul of the company who safeguard its heritage, style and craft. They give us great regard as a family.’