Elsa Peretti

The arrival of Elsa Peretti at Tiffany & Co. in 1974 signaled a revolution in jewellery design. On the day her first collection debuted, it sold out and elevated sterling silver to luxury status overnight. A true pioneer of design, her unique creations had a never-before-seen organic aesthetic. Among the masterful artisan’s acclaimed creations is her Diamonds by the Yard® collection, a combination of fine, fluid chains and bezel-set stones that reimagined the role of diamonds in fashion. Having forever changed the way women wear jewellery, Peretti’s legacy will remain constant source of inspiration.

Born in Florence, Italy and educated in Rome and Switzerland, she later returned to Rome to pursue a degree in interior design. By 1969, she had established herself as a fashion model in New York and Barcelona and was also beginning to design her own jewellery. American fashion designer Giorgio di Sant’Angelo used a few of her pieces in a fashion show, which were an instant success. It was during this time that she met the legendary designer Halston, who became her longtime friend and frequent collaborator.

As a successful jewellery designer with a decade of coveted collections—such as Bottle, Open Heart, Bean design and, of course, her Bone cuffs—it was not until the early 1980s that her collections for Tiffany expanded to include china, crystal and silver designs for the home. Like her jewellery, these new designs were praised for their fluid shape and tactile quality. They represent love for life, the warmth of a generous host and the idea that beauty and utility should always be as one.

In recognition of her remarkable career, Tiffany established the Elsa Peretti Professorship in Jewellery Design at the Fashion Institute of Technology, the first endowed professorship in the history of FIT. In 2001 the designer was given an honourary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from FIT.

She also received the 1971 Coty American Fashion Critics’ Award for Jewellery and the Rhode Island School of Design President’s Fellow Award in 1981. In 1996, the Council of Fashion Designers of America named her Accessory Designer of the Year. Elsa Peretti’s designs are in the permanent collections of the British Museum in London, England; The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City; the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts; and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas.

Few designs maintain their style and beauty for decades but Peretti’s are as modern today as ever.