Gianfranco Ferré. Under another light. Jewels and ornaments

This volume aims to present a focused perspective on a specific aspect of Gianfranco Ferré’s creativity and design vision – the jewel-object – with the clear intention of emphasising the special attention that the designer consistently devoted to this field. An attention directed both towards research into form and material and towards inspiration, often producing innovative and unexpected results.

The book is also a tribute to the origins of Ferré’s creative journey, which began precisely with ornaments, bijoux and accessories. It was a start driven more by curiosity than by an already established conviction, more by the pleasure of handling materials than by the determination to become a fashion designer... a decision that would come only several years later.

This continuity of passion and interest is expressed through two guiding principles: one methodological and one aesthetic-stylistic. The first: like clothing, jewellery offers a vast territory for engaging with materials – in all their many identities – and for innovation, experimentation and advancement in their elaboration, recalling the experimental method described by Galileo. The second: like clothing, jewellery dresses and adorns the body, highlights its key points, creates a bridge between structure and figure, and remains intrinsically connected to the physical presence of the wearer, almost as if it were part of them.

Ferré’s love for jewellery as ornament was never secondary. Ornament and garment immediately enter into symbiosis: each seems unable to exist without the other, in an intertwining that cannot be separated in terms of design and inspiration, experimentation and fascination.

Artistic direction by Luca Stoppini; photos by Andrea Pasuello.