To become a Vogue Business Member and receive the Technology Edit newsletter, click here.
Bulgari debuted its newest high jewellery collection in Paris on Monday, featuring emeralds, rubies and a surprising, sparkling new addition: NFTs.
The new collection includes a multi-million-euro, 10-carat Magnifica Ruby Metamorphosis necklace and the Emerald Glory necklace to be sold with digital twin NFTs, which link the physical goods to a virtual version. The third NFT, called “Beyond Wonder”, is a purely digital creation, which the brand calls the “first NFT jewel, an intangible creation, transcending the boundaries of materiality” and is not for sale.
The NFTs were designed by Bulgari jewellery creative director Lucia Silvestri and done in partnership with Milan-based startup Miat. Their data is stored on the Aura blockchain, and the NFTs are accessible on the Polygon blockchain, according to Bulgari CEO Jean-Christophe Babin.
The two “digital twins” are not replicas of the necklaces to wear on Decentraland or your PFP like others. Instead, they are digital artworks inspired by the necklaces.
“The future of contemporary art is partly digital and NFTs are the driver of digital contemporary art. Being able to give our clients an artistic dimension inspired by their jewellery gives to the piece an emotional dimension. The high jewellery piece will be worn three times a year while you can have your NFT on a nice screen at home,” Babin says.
