By Jacquie De Almeida
Elisabetta Molina Valerani removes one of her latest gold designs from its case, placing it next to a few of her signature pieces.
All are exquisite and in the unmistakable style of Garavelli, a Valenza-based manufacturer. None look out of place, save for perhaps a barely noticeable difference in colour in one. In fact, if you didn’t look at the necklace closely enough, you would think it was just the booth lighting bouncing off its surface.
Instead, the explanation is in the piece itself. Garavelli’s taken two of its more successful designs and re-worked them using nine-karat gold, rather than its staple, 18-karat.
“It’s brand new,” Valerani says from her booth at VicenzaOro’s ‘Winter.’ “We’re testing it here in Italy and at New York, Centurion, and the Hong Kong shows. It’s a way to keep the price of gold in a design down to what it was five years ago.”
That translates into about half the cost at the retail level, she explains. It’s perhaps also an evolution in Italian design, particularly among manufacturers like Garavelli that mainly export.
While the fair has traditionally been a hub for local retailers, the growing presence of international buyers—some of them part of organized buying groups—has become apparent.
It’s a result of the emphasis the show’s organizer is placing on bringing the ‘Made in Italy’ brand to emerging markets eager for Italian design.
The fair’s focus on instilling optimism among exhibitors and buyers alike came to the fore in its theme, “The Future. Now.” In fact, fair president Roberto Ditri’s emphasis on the word, ‘now,’ when speaking about the theme at various press events helped convey the message that today’s work lays the foundation for tomorrow’s rewards.
Part of that includes the announcement the fair’s invitation-only event—About J—will bring together 35 select Italian and international brands, 100 international buyers and top Italian retailers, and journalists from leading Italian and foreign publications. Running from Sept. 4 to 7, About J will be held in Venice this year, a location combining Italian history and culture with artistry and manufacturing.
The fair’s emphasis on collaboration to build the Italian brand also came in the form of a new deal with the Associazione Orafa Valenzana (AOV), which represents Italy’s Valenza district, a manufacturing centre for high-quality jewellery and precious stone mountings.
