To wander across the hallowed halls of the Villa Albani-Torlonia in Rome, being surrounded by its huge assortment of artwork and antiquities numbering to the lots of—a set which incorporates masterpieces even prime museums world wide shall be grateful to own—was a privilege that one would dearly bear in mind for so long as time permits. Lauded because the cradle of neoclassicism, this villa has survived 275 years of historical past, its sprawling grounds of towering pine woods and oak-lined avenues resulting in an beautiful parterre remaining largely intact effectively into the 21^st century, underneath the auspices of the Fondazione Torlonia.

Commissioned in 1747 by the Cardinal Alessandro Albani who had a formidable assortment of classical artwork, the villa’s interiors are frescoed totally in marble. Wanting to remain true to French thinker René Descartes’s maxim of by no means leaving any area empty, the Cardinal additionally had it stuffed to the brim with sculptures, mosaics, and stuccoes over flooring, partitions, and ceilings, in addition to each nook and cranny so far as the attention can see. Among the many names concerned in its conception and design was the German artwork historian, JJ Winckelmann, whose function within the rise of neoclassicism can by no means be downplayed.

Villa Albani-Torlonia with its stellar assortment, quite a few fountains, statues, elegant stairways and frescoes was far more than a spot of residence, however a cultural venue. A de facto stage for vigorous dialog, concert events, boards and ceremonies held in favour of the humanities.

As such, it embodied the best expressions of the antiquarian style which outlined Rome as the last word vacation spot of the European customized referred to as the Grand Tour, particularly for generations of artwork college students who got here in the hunt for inspiration from the (then) newly found Greco-Roman beliefs. And this inescapable sensory overload, this miasma of devastating magnificence, was exactly the mind set that Alessandro Michele wished to relay at Gucci’s presentation of its new Hortus Deliciarum excessive jewelry assortment one shiny summer time morning.

Hortus Deliciarum is the third excessive jewelry assortment by Gucci in as a few years, and additionally it is the style home’s most expressive one up to now. Composed of distinctive items all of which have been designed by its artistic director and divided into 5 core themes, the gathering takes us on an imaginary Grand Tour of various locations, timelines, and locales. Michele’s aptitude for extra and a maximalist aesthetic writs ever bigger in excessive jewelry, a liberty he takes with childlike glee.

“What I’m doing is simply to discover, in the identical manner as I do with garments and all the opposite issues. It’s simply my manner of working. I’m navigating a loopy world of stones, inspiration, historical past… issues that come from the Georgian period, English jewelry, Italian jewelry… Lastly I’m making an attempt to carry my ardour and know-how into this space,” he shares.

But by taking a look at his creations, it’s obvious that Michele isn’t merely right here to repeat historical historical past. “I’m that form of individual that doesn’t care the place an concept got here from. I need to play with it like a child, you realize. Let’s attempt to do one thing that appears like a Georgian period jewel, or we are able to do one thing with the French tremblant [style]. I used to be simply enjoying in such a stupendous manner and now it’s already been three years. I believe that working with stunning issues is among the most attention-grabbing issues for a dressmaker or any designer. It’s like a visit.”

Fittingly, the brand new Hortus Deliciarum assortment is styled because the excessive jewelry equal of a Grand Tour and naturally that features Michele’s house metropolis of Rome. As a matter of reality it begins in Rome. He chronicles a dreamlike journey across the metropolis, seeing and touching all the attractive landmarks of their authentic splendour. His “car” of alternative on this case can be the vintage micro-mosaic items taking pleasure of place in necklaces, bracelets, earrings, brooches, and pendants. An beloved Roman custom, these handcrafted antiques date between 1850 and 1870, and have been particularly in style worn as jewelry in the course of the Grand Tour interval.

Michele provides, “I used to be occupied with how stunning the concept was that jewelry can inform a narrative. Up to now, these particular jewels have been actually like little motion pictures, little storybooks. I accumulate micro-mosaics from the 18^th and 19^thcenturies. I discover them fascinating as a result of with them it turns into not simply concerning the gold or the excessive jewelry, however the work, the time spent getting loopy about all these little items.”

Depicting iconic sights of Rome, from the Colosseum and Piazza San Pietro to the Pantheon and the Roman Discussion board, in addition to the Temple of Vesta, the Temple of Hercules at Cori, the Tivoli waterfalls, and the Pyramid of Cestius, the cameos are every framed with colored enamel after which set in gold. Elevating them into the realm of excessive jewelry are a bevy of valuable gems together with diamonds in an array of various cuts and a full spectrum of colored gems similar to peridots, beryls, spinels, topazes, opals, tourmalines, and extra.

After Rome, Hortus Deliciarum sojourns farther afield into unique India, land of the Maharajahs. That is the place the gathering begins to tackle a kaleidoscopic magnificence. Daring, wealthy colors evoke the plush greenery and highly effective geometrical types call to mind the subcontinent’s many royal palaces. Gems in fiery tones align with strands of woven gold, accentuated by diamonds and enamel.

In the meantime, pearls make an look for the very first time in Gucci excessive jewelry, however they’re nothing just like the form of basic strings of pearls your grandmother would put on. “If you wish to say one thing new to the market, you are able to do it. Do one thing that hasn’t been achieved earlier than. As a result of I’ve felt that prime jewelry in recent times was nearly tremendous valuable stones. I prefer to open up loopy conversations, pondering what would occur if we did one thing new but additionally attention-grabbing. It’ll be like we’re opening up new doorways in the identical playground.”

Hortus Deliciarum is the third excessive jewelry assortment by Gucci in as a few years, and additionally it is the style home’s most expressive one up to now.

His refreshing tackle excessive jewelry allowed Michele to see gems by a markedly totally different lens. The fourth chapter of Hortus Deliciarum swings by New York in Nineteen Thirties the place modernism abounds and skyscrapers attain for the skies. Shapes transfer from fluid and natural to robust and geometric, even uneven and constructed with structural particulars. All that orderliness is then abruptly but expertly deconstructed with grandiose stones.

Lastly, Hortus Deliciarum arrives on the closing chapter of Michele’s lengthy journey diary—a time, moderately than a spot: the Seventies. Arguably his favorite period. Right here is the place psychedelic colors and fabulous shapes intermingle with completely no restraint. Among the many many highlights, a sautoir necklace set with a jaw-dropping 172.4-carat Colombian emerald steals the present. Extraordinary not only for its unimaginable measurement but additionally its distinctive minimize, this hexagonal portrait-cut stone was like an image painted of inclusions. Also called jardins, the distinctive sample sweeps in from the aspect of the stone in the direction of its centre, like a tidal wave nearly to crash onto the shore.

Remembering the primary time he set eyes on the stone, Michele smiles. “I used to be dying,” he effuses, “I used to be at house once they despatched me photos of the stone. I’d by no means seen something prefer it. It was very emotional for me. I used to be imagining who may the proprietor be, what the color was in actual life, and the inclusions… I used to be already dreaming of placing the stone in a sautoir. They requested me if I’m positive about it, so I mentioned ‘please attempt to purchase it’ and we obtained it. It’s like a fairy story, you realize? After which once I noticed it in actuality, I simply couldn’t imagine that nature can create one thing so stunning.”

He lavished his wildest fantasies on this beautiful stone, imagining it as one thing an aristocratic British household might need acquired while going by India, then setting it right into a hippie-chic sautoir and at last sporting it throughout the Atlantic within the New World. Michele paired it with a geometrical white gold and diamond chain, and set it with purple enamel griffes designed just like the claws of a legendary beast—a mode that’s flamboyant by alternative and never classical within the least, however 100 per cent Gucci, and a thousand per cent Alessandro Michele.

Certainly, as a dressmaker and an ardent jewelry lover, Michele ought be dubbed the brand new enfant horribleof excessive jewelry. The one who revels in breaking down boundaries simply to see if one thing fantastic may come out of it. “I used to be simply making an attempt to dream,” he says of his strategy to excessive jewelry, “I’m fairly obsessive about jewelry, I accumulate jewelry. I believe that gems and issues that belong to that form of work is an area that doesn’t exist, like between the sky and the earth. Jewels are like stars to me, it’s all simply,” he sighs, “superb.”