Photo Courtesy of Amsterdam Sauer
She’s readily identifiable as one of Italy’s brightest young things, but Bianca Brandolini is almost as Brazilian as she is Italian. That’s the passport she carries, and it’s the home of her new business ventures, one a line of bathing suits for Osklen, the other a capsule collection of jewelry for Amsterdam Sauer, globally renowned for its colorful gemstones. In fact, it was company founder Jules Sauer who, 50 years ago, discovered Brazil’s first emerald mine, in Bahia.
Brandolini has her own connection with Bahia—her mother, Georgina, has a house in Trancoso—but she chose not to follow colorful convention, inspired instead by the idea of things seen underwater. In fact, that’s what the collection is called. So she has used white and blue opals, diamonds and pearls to convey shimmering translucence. The other night, when she launched Underwater with a dinner at Mathi’s—in the company of family friends Valentino Garavani, Giancarlo Giammetti, and Giambattista Valli—the jewelry was arranged on rocks in fishbowls, pale treasure around which brightly colored tropical fish nosed.
The collection was a year in the making, and it wasn’t only Brandolini’s avoidance of colored stones that broke with Amsterdam Sauer’s tradition. One of Underwater’s most striking pieces is a ring of dendrite, in which algae have naturally formed a delicate tracery. It’s beautiful, but it doesn’t fit with the notion of fine jewelry as the likes of Amsterdam Sauer understand it. Still, that slightly wayward spirit reflects Brandolini’s own personality—and it’s what gives her collection its character.
