What you’ll learn in this episode:
About Elisabetta Cipriani
Elisabetta Cipriani invites world leading contemporary artists to create aesthetically innovative and socially relevant wearable art projects. Since the opening of her namesake gallery in 2009, Elisabetta’s pioneering vision has redefined the boundaries between jewelry and fine art, capturing the imaginations of artists and collectors across the globe.
The gallery has collaborated with over 50 critically acclaimed painters and sculptors, including Ai Weiwei, Chiharu Shiota, Giulio Paolini, Ilya & Emilia Kabakov, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Enrico Castellani, Erwin Wurm, Giorgio Vigna, Jannis Kounellis, Rebecca Horn, and Pedro Cabrita Reis, to name a few.
The gallery’s projects can be found in museums and private collections across the globe, including Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris; Museum of Art and Design, New York; World Jewelry Museum, Seoul; and The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg. A number of Elisabetta Cipriani’s jewelry collaborations are featured in From Picasso to Koons: The Artist as Jeweler, the international touring exhibition of artist jewelry curated by Diane Venet.
Elisabetta Cipriani participates in leading art and design fairs, including Design Miami and Design Basel, TEFAF Maastricht, Artissima Turin, MiArt Milan, PAD London, and PAD Monaco.
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Available on TheJewelryJourney.com
Transcript:
Sharon: Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Jewelry Journey Podcast. This is the second part of a two-part episode. Today, my guest is Elisabetta Cipriani, founder and owner of the gallery Elisabetta Cipriani Wearable Art, a gallery of limited-edition jewels created by artists. The gallery has collaborated with more than 50 well-known painters and sculptors since its opening in 2009. Welcome back.
I remember years ago, even eight, nine years ago, I bought an artist jewel, and people just didn’t understand why you would buy a jewel from an artist. In fact, I was listening to a panel once, and somebody said they wouldn’t buy an artist jewel by Man Ray because it wasn’t what he was known for. That really surprised me, because I think I would want a piece like that because it’s so unusual. What changed?
Elisabetta: I think people are more knowledgeable now. They study more. I’m talking about art, not about jewelry. Even young collectors who want to start a collection, they are eager to learn more about the artist and the works. I think they are acquiring a stronger sensibility in work that is art. Can jewelry be art? Yes, if it’s done by an artist. Also, when people see an art piece from an artist and they see a jewel from the same artist, they see the connection. The dialogue is the same; there is a continuity.
Before, people were probably seeing it as a decorative piece rather than a pure art piece. The traveling exhibition really helped because it went to New York, it went to Miami, it went to Venice, it went to Paris at the Museum of Decorative Arts, I think Brussels. It went everywhere, and she is still working on it. She wants to bring it to Brazil and a main city in Italy like Milan or Rome. She’s working on it. So, people are seeing art as jewelry, and they understand that it’s not decorative, but it’s an art piece. It’s collectable, and it is precious not because it’s a jewel, but because it is an intimate aspect of an artist.
An artist, especially in the past, they didn’t do it for a commercial purpose. They did it for themselves, for their friends, for their lovers. It was only later that, for example, Picasso had François Hugo, who was doing his gold plates. He asked Picasso if he could do those big plates reduced as small medallions to wear. That was a goldsmith who actually started the collaboration with the medallions with Picasso, GianCarlo Montebello in Milan. In the seventies, they started inviting artists like Man Ray, GianCarlo Montebello, Niki de Saint Phalle, Lucio Fontana to do jewelry as a commercial business, basically.
Then, apart from people seeing artist jewelry in museums, they also see us: galleries showing in the best fairs around the world, in New York, in Maastricht, in London or in Paris, the Basel Design Fair in Miami, and also auctions. At the auctions, the prices are crazy. I can’t buy at an auction. If I look at something that I would love to buy, I’m there, but I already know that I can’t reach that price, because it goes five times more than the estimated price.
Sharon: The Picasso medallion was at auction. I don’t know what it went for before. I don’t even know if it sold, but when Bonhams had its modernist jewelry auction recently, that was the centerpiece, that Picasso medallion.
Elisabetta: Yes, even Claude Lalanne, for example, was at a recent auction in Paris, and the prices—the estimate was 3,000-5,000 euros, and it sold for 70,000 euros. I have two Lalannes, thank god. These pieces, they grow in value; we all know that. For example, recently I collaborated with Carlos Cruz-Diez, one of the most important Venezuelan kinetic artists. He passed away a few years ago at the age of 91, so he had a great life. He was an amazing artist. He was a beautiful man, and we did a necklace together and a bracelet. With him, we split the editions. He took a certain amount of necklaces and a certain amount of bracelets. Mine sold out, and I had one left in another color, gold. I had a client coming to see the pieces, and I was surprised at the increase in price. When I asked him, “Can you update me on the price?” the new price was 40% higher. I never say this to my clients because I don’t like it. You buy it because you love it, not because you want to make an investment, but it’s obvious that’s an investment because, after two years’ time, it’s 40% higher.
Sharon: Somebody once said that people buy jewels done by artists because the painting, the artwork itself, may be unaffordable, but this way they can buy something that’s relatively affordable. Do you find that true? Do you find that people say, “I love this artist. I want a piece of his or hers”?
Elisabetta: First of all, my collectors are art collectors, so those who buy my jewelry are mainly art collectors or lovers of jewelry. Most of them, they buy the jewel because they have the art piece but they can’t carry it with them around the world, whereas the jewel, yes, they can, and they love it. Of course, if I say it’s $30,000, for them, it’s nothing compared to how much they paid for the art piece by the artist. Art collectors, they understand the value of the piece. Even if there is no diamond, no precious stones, they know it costs that amount of money because it’s made by that artist.
Sharon: Was opening your own gallery something you wanted to do for a long time?
Elisabetta: No, not at all. I started this business as a passion. I wasn’t really thinking to become a gallerist or a dealer. I just wanted to do something I really loved, that I always wanted to do. Even better, because I linked jewelry with art. I’m continuing to work one-to-one with visual artists. It’s something I love, to talk to artists. I’m a curator as well because I choose the artists that I love, as a painter, as a sculptor. I choose the artist with whom I would like to collaborate. I see an art piece; I don’t see a jewel at all. I love what they create, and it happened like this spontaneously.
Sharon: You’ve mentioned there’s resistance from the artists. Is it because they’re surprised that somebody would ask them to do that? Do they feel like, “I don’t do jewels; I do paintings”? What’s their resistance?
Elisabetta: I must say I’ve only had a few turn-downs, artists that say, “No, I’m not interested. It’s not what I do.” They don’t see it as their language, so they say, “I’m not doing it.” This past year there were ones that said “no is no,” but there were two or three others who said “not now.” I understood in time that “not now” means they are too busy creating art works and going to museums, as I said before, and that they need to have a quieter moment to do this. It’s really very challenging for them.
Imagine an artist who creates big sculptures. They work with their hands, with arms opened up. They also have to think about wearability. How can I translate that sculpture into something very small, in the same language? How can I translate the strength of a big sculpture into a miniature? It’s difficult. It’s even frightening, but I am good at reassuring them that once they come up with an idea, with a sketch, with a prototype, I’m good at helping to transform it into something wearable.
Sharon: What’s the process? They say, “O.K., now’s the time,” they sketch something and bring it to you and say, “What do you think?”
Elisabetta: Once they agree, I ask them to create a sketch or a protype, something. I need to start with their design. They give me the design which, thank god, I always like it. It would be difficult to tell them I don’t like it. Every time I pray it’s something nice, and thank god, it was always nice.
Then I bring the design to my goldsmith, who is in Rome, and I start the production, meaning I start a protype. We do casts and samples in silver, and once I’m happy with my goldsmith, once we get close to the design the artist has given me, I show the first model of the prototype to the artist. Then we make changes. It’s back-and-forth communication and changing until the artist is 100% happy. Then we can start making the piece in gold or in silver. It depends on the artist, if he wants to do it in silver or in gold.
It's all up to the artist whether we make a small edition or a unique piece or a bigger edition. The maximum I work with is an edition of 12. I have a few where I have an edition of 20, but that’s because they’re made in silver and it’s easier. Still, even if it’s an edition of 20, there are limits depending on how big it is. I also have unique pieces. In any case, even if it’s a limited edition, it’s always handmade at the end. There isn’t a stamp, a mass production. It’s always the hand of the goldsmith who needs to modify it. They are the same within an edition, but not exactly the same. We keep the beauty of it as well.
Sharon: I don’t mean to put you on the spot, but it’s a question that nobody can answer definitively: what’s the difference between art jewelry and jewelry by artists? For instance, when I think of art jewelry, art jewelry can be made of gold or silver, but it can also be made of wood and plastic and feathers. What is the difference between somebody saying, “I do art jewelry” as opposed to, “I’m an artist”? What’s the difference?
Elisabetta: The difference, very obviously, is that art jewelry is made by someone who does only that, and artist jewelry is a jewel made by a visual artist, a painter or a sculptor that has nothing to do with jewelry. It’s a classic experiment. It’s more traditional in a way. I’ve never an artist-jeweler bring an experiment or feathers. It’s not the material; it’s the intrinsic thing, the complexity of the material, combining the classic with precious materials. It’s too advanced for an artist to do that, I think.
Sharon: That’s interesting. If they’re not doing jewelry, if their métier is painting or sculpture, to come and say, “I want to make something that has plastic and gold or plastic and wood,” that is—
Elisabetta: And you can see the difference. Just yesterday I sold a piece to a well-known American collector. I didn’t know about her. She sent me an article about her collection. She has a contemporary jewelry collection. I call it contemporary jewelry, quite impressive, but it’s very different from an artist jeweler. I don’t know; It’s a feel. It is a little bit colder to me.
Sharon: Cold contemporary. There’s so much beautiful contemporary jewelry, but it’s done for the beauty of the jewelry in a sense.
Elisabetta: Yeah, I see artist jewelry being more sculptural, more two-dimensional.
Sharon: Do you see this as a growing field? Are more galleries coming online with this?
Elisabetta: There aren’t many galleries. There are five in the world. It may happen that a person wakes up in the morning and says, “O.K., I’m going to collaborate with an artist,” and they do three projects with different artists and then they disappear. There are only five proper galleries who have a program, who show at fairs, who are around, but the interest is for sure on collectors.
I would be happy for more galleries to open. The more there are, the better the word is spread. It’s important. We need quality, not quantity, so if they open, they should do it in a nice way. It would be a shame to work with an artist and create something that is not properly made.
Sharon: Do you ever have artists come to you and say, “I’d like to do some jewelry”?
Elisabetta: Not visual artists.
Sharon: No?
Elisabetta: Not sculptors and painters. Jewelers? Yes, many, because I have two sections in my gallery. One is what I specialize in, which is artist jewelry. A few years ago, I opened up the gallery with jewelers who have a very strong sculptural approach when they create jewelry. For me, both of them are artists. Even if you’re not a painter and a sculptor, you’re indeed an artist as well, because you’re creating something. So, a few years ago—I don’t remember if it was before Covid—I launched this section, which is called EC Lab.
Sharon: I’m sorry; what is it called?
Elisabetta: EC Lab.
Sharon: EC Lab, O.K.
Elisabetta: You know about it.
Sharon: I’ve seen it. I didn’t realize what it was. I’ve seen it on your website, yes.
Elisabetta: There are great artists there. There’s Ute Decker; there’s Joy BC; there’s Gigi Mariani; Leonid Dementiev; John Moore. They are artists to me. Some of them actually create small sculptures. That is what they do for a living. It’s not painting, it’s not traditional sculpture, but their approach is sculptural and so unique that, for me, I don’t see the difference between artist jewelry and contemporary jewelry, if you want to call it that. It’s quite successful, and I enjoy seeing these artists within the context of artist jewelry and identifying them as artists.
Sharon: Interesting combination. I could see why that would work out, and that it’s popular because it’s not retail. You’re not going to walk into a mall and find them.
Elisabetta: No. Actually, most are by appointment. Not everyone can come and ring the bell and come upstairs. You need to make an appointment because it’s exclusive here, and I protect them. They’re like my little children.
Sharon: So you have to do it by appointment. It’s not like somebody walks in off the street.
Elisabetta: The gallery is always open, but I want people to make an effort to make an appointment.
Sharon: Is that the way it’s always been?
Elisabetta: Yes.
Sharon: That’s interesting. Elisabetta, thank you so much. I would love to enter your gallery. Thank you so much for joining us today.
Elisabetta: It’s been a pleasure.
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