Elsa Peretti, who was arguably one of the most successful jewelry designers, has died at the age of 80. She died March 18 in her home in the Spanish village of Sant Marí Vell. The cause was not disclosed.
Peretti’s Designs
Peretti was an Italian-born designer who was known for her biomorphic designs. Her work has been described as “carved, pure – irresistibly touchable – it has been called jewelry as sculpture, sculpture as jewelry, and the most sensuous jewelry in the world.” As of 2019, Tiffany estimated that its stores around the world sold an object designed by Peretti once every minute.
Her pieces are known as being relatively minimal. In an interview with Vogue in 1986 she described her process by saying, “take away, take away.”
Instead of gold, the designer preferred silver as her primary metal. She liked the clarity and relative affordability of silver.
The “open heart” necklace is one of her most popular designs. It’s a heart-shaped frame of silver, with a chain through the empty center. In 2019, items sold with her “open heart” design were sold once every three minutes.
“Good line and good form are timeless,” Peretti told the Wall Street Journal last year. “I want my designs to be clear, simple but sublime.”
Halston
Peretti was born in Florence, but moved to Spain in 1964 to begin modeling. When Peretti moved from Spain to New York four years later, she began hanging around the social circles of Andy Warhol and Halston at Studio 54. Although Peretti’s jewelry first made an appearance down the runway at a Giorgio di Sant’ Angelo show, she’s best known for her collaboration with Halston, with whom she designed jewelry and perfume bottles. Halston even introduced Peretti to the Tiffany brand.
“Elsa was different from other models,” Halston once said. “The others were clothes racks – you’d make them up, fix their hair, and then they’d put their blue jeans back on. But Elsa had style: She made the dress she was modeling her own.”
Fun fact about the Peretti/Halston relationship: Peretti allegedly threw a fur coat into a fire when arguing with Halston. She apparently had quite the temper.
Tiffany & Co.
Peretti started collaborating with Tiffany & Co. in 1974, and built a relationship that lasted nearly 50 years.
When the designer’s first Tiffany’s collection was released in 1974, Vogue wrote that “right then, what had been a cult-size ardor exploded into a national passion – suddenly everybody is collecting Peretti. From New York to California, wherever there’s a Tiffany’s, there are lines – and they’re not just-looking-thank-you.”
The customers were buying Peretti’s curvilinear pieces in sterling silver – not gold. This was a turning point. It changed the idea of what constituted fine jewelry and also affected who was purchasing it. Breaking away from tradition, women were finally shopping for themselves rather than just being gifted jewelry by men.
Over time, her work accounted for about 10% of the brand’s sales. In 2012, Tiffany’s decided to pay the designer a one-time fee of over $47 million dollars.
Personal Life
Peretti was born May 1, 1940 in Florence and grew up in Rome. Peretti left Italy to move to Barcelona to become a model in 1964. When she did so, her wealthy Italian family cut her off financially and she became estranged from them for most of her adult life. The designer never married, but had a few relationships with men. Her longest relationship was with an Italian contractor Stefano Magini. Their first encounter was a heated argument after he knocked down a gate at her home with his vehicle.
“We were together 23 years,” Peretti told Vanity Fair in 2014.” “Ten were great.”
Peretti had homes in New York, Barcelona, Rome and Porto Ercole, Italy over the years. But her main residence was in Sant Martí Vell, Spain, where she purchased a home in 1968.
“My first years,” Peretti shared with Vanity Fair, “things were still in ruins, many of the houses didn’t have roofs, and I slept on a bench and washed myself on the stone floor.”
She found the village of Sant Martí Vell as a retreat from fame, and eventually helped revive the town. Peretti helped restore buildings, planted a vineyard, launched a wine label, and stayed in touch with the Barcelona metalworkers who helped with her jewelry designs.
“I didn’t want to become someone,” the designer said looking at her fame. “I wanted to do what I wanted, to work with artisans, with my people. They bring my fantasies to life.”
