A jeweler aristocrat who created jewelry for Coco Chanel and Salvador Dali: Fulco di Verdura

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Coco Chanel encouraged women to wear jewelry and set an example herself, clinking with extravagant bracelets with Maltese crosses. They were created by the Italian prince Fulco di Verdura, whose creations fascinated even the great dreamer Salvador Dali. Di Verdura was a genius - and also surprisingly lucky …

Since childhood, he has bathed in luxury. The estate of the di Verdura family in Palermo, built in the 18th century, was the center of beauty. Fulco and his sister, Maria Felice, played among exotic plants, breathed in the scent of bougainvillea flowers, and had fun at the masquerades often organized by their parents. Fulco loved parties most of all - he had a wild imagination and an extraordinary sense of humor, and every time he amazed the adult guests with his ingenuity in choosing a costume. The children had their own zoo - several dogs and cats, baboons and even a camel. And the library in the estate of di Verdura could strike the most sophisticated book lover on the spot!

Flowers and animals, exquisite interiors and unusual encounters - all this Fulco preserved in his memory and embodied in his work, but it was the library-treasury that pushed him to pursue art. At the age of ten, he found a book volume with reproductions of Raphael's works - and fell in love with the serene faces of his Madonnas. So, childishly imitating the titan of the Renaissance, Fulko began to paint. He covered with awkward scrawls sheet by sheet, and the further, the more bewitched his art. Even then, he began to make jewelry from shells - in the future, the precious shell will become di Verdura's favorite motif.

Fulco grew up. The finances of his family allowed the young duke not to think about looking for food, but he shocked the high society with a desire to do something worthwhile, something creative. Di Verdura began drawing patterns for fabrics - but none of those close to him took his passion for design seriously. And then friends of the family, Porters, introduced him to a woman whose origin was far from aristocratic, but ladies from high society were not averse to making friends with her. Her name was Coco Chanel - and she was already famous.

They quickly became friends, and Chanel invited Fulco to design some designs for her fabrics. After a while, she decided to redo the jewelry given to her by the fans - Koko found them too boring (jewelry, of course; fans, perhaps too). In addition, at that time she was experiencing a break with Grand Duke Dmitry Romanov and sought to get rid of some of her memories. She asked Werdura - as a friend and companion - to help her. This is how the famous bracelets with Maltese crosses appeared - the Verdura jewelry house still produces them, and every decade they become more relevant. Chanel wore them herself, almost without taking off. After her death, those very first models of bracelets with Maltese crosses ended up in the collection of Diana Vreeland, who also played a significant role in the fate of di Verdura.

She chuckled - at last princes and dukes are working for her! But Coco was really fascinated by the jeweler - his exuberant imagination, his elegance, his manners … When Chanel encouraged women to wear jewelry, she undoubtedly spoke about the creations of her colleague. Fulco di Verdura quickly acquired connections in Paris, became friends with Diaghilev and the Rothschilds, Picasso and Josephine Baker … He was a sociable and witty person, but in these meetings, bohemian parties, the lights of night Paris, he first of all found inspiration.

However, in 1934, Fulco di Verdura left Europe and, in the company of his friend, Baron Nicholas de Gunzberg, boarded a ship bound for America. A longtime friend, Cole Porter, invited him to Hollywood. Di Verdura and de Gunsberg crossed the country in a brand new luxury convertible - and Fulco was delighted with the mere thought that he was in a country where his past, all hundreds of years of history of his family, did not matter. Only his talent matters.

And the talent of di Verdura was appreciated - his jewelry was adored by the stars. Marlene Dietrich, Joan Fontaine, Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford were ready to give any money for bracelets and brooches from the "prince of jewelers". Diana Vreeland, the editor of Vogue, a living legend, did not remain indifferent either. To her Fulco owes her acquaintance and further cooperation with Paul Flato, a leading American jeweler. The success of the Verdura jewelry line for the Flato company was overwhelming. Di Verdura became a real American, moving to America was his best decision. On September 1, 1939, World War II began, and Fulco opened his first boutique on the same day …

In 1941, he saw the light of his joint work with Salvador Dali, based on the famous paintings of the artist. The surrealist collection consisted of five objects - the Medusa, Saint Sebastian, Apollo and Daphne brooch, the Spider cigarette case and the Fallen Angel box.

After that, in the work of di Verdura, surrealism became the main direction. Subsequently, he collaborated with Dali twice more.

Di Verdura revived the old Italian tradition of combining gold and enamel, was one of the first to use stringing in jewelry and made all jewelers in the world fall in love with platinum. He restored antique jewelry and used Renaissance imagery in his pieces. Di Verdura did not shy away from extravagant materials - one of the lily of the valley brooches included the baby teeth of the customer's children instead of pearls.

He returned to Europe in 1973. He sold the company, settled in London and devoted the remaining years of his life to painting, although he remained a party star until his last breath. He quietly passed away at the eightieth year of his life … but left the new owners of the company - his old colleagues - thousands of his sketches. So the jewelry house Verdura, decades later, pleases fans with all the new jewelry created by the imagination of its brilliant founder.