Inside Roberto Coin’s Jewelry-Filled Masquerade Ball in Venice
If you can’t fly to Venice this holiday season, fear not: Roberto Coin captured the spirit of the floating city with vibrant, stylish new designs that bring the vibe straight to you.
As an Italian native, the celebrated jeweler is the first to admit that the magical, romantic quality of Venice never fades. “The vibrant colors, the street artisans, the intricate facades of the buildings—there’s always something I haven’t noticed before,” says Coin, who is a world traveler but prefers his home in Venice over anywhere else.
To celebrate his 80th birthday, he shared his passion for Italy with friends at an extravagant masquerade ball in a historic palazzo on Venice’s Grand Canal last month. His guests were outfitted in authentic 17th- and 18th-century ballgowns designed the famous local couturier Antonia Sautter, and were entertained by Italian opera singers, dancers, and more, all in the spirit of the legendary Carnevale.
It also served as the perfect occasion to unveil Coin’s latest jewelry designs, which deliver Venice’s history and culture in standout pieces, from finely detailed decorative earrings to statement-making reversible pendants and colorful cocktail rings.
“Venice is the best open-air museum in the world, starting from the Guggenheim and ending at the Biennale,” Coin adds. Walking or biking around the city, a Moorish window frame or ancient emblem outside a palace captures his attention and becomes the spark for a new design.
The floral patterns in the Venetian Princess collection were inspired by the architecture of the historic palaces that line the Grand Canal with its inflected arches. He transformed the rhythmic shapes into gold and gemstone jewels, which are made in his workshops in nearby Vicenza. The newest iterations feature flower motif pendants and rings that rotate to reveal another gemstone on the reverse. It’s a two-in-one piece that gives the wearer options, be it colorful hard stones, like chrysoprase, mother-of-pearl, or rhodonite, satiny matte gold, or sparkling diamonds.
The geometric patterns in the Palazzo Ducale’s gold, diamond, and gemstones pieces mimic the repeated shapes adorning the city’s legendary Doge’s Palace at St. Mark’s Square. Its floral shapes are layered in designs with diamonds, gold, and colorful hard stones, such as carnelian and amazonite.
The bold Medallions series is Coin’s version of the ancient pateres, the marble or stone ornaments on the façades of many Venetian homes which tell the family’s story. Coin’s new designs come in extra-large colorful pendants that express the wearer’s own narrative in bold red carnelian, dreamy turquoise, or elegant mother-of-pearl.
Like the city of Venice, Coin likes to fuse tradition with innovative new ideas like his titanium collection. After years of experimenting, his team developed new ways of working with the metal by using high-precision machines that oxidize it to create four bright colors that don’t fade. The strong and ultra-lightweight titanium appears in large floral rings, pendants, and earrings, often with diamond accents.
Even in his twilight years, the city still stimulates Coin’s creativity and remains the one place where he can dream up new ideas without limits, he says. His advice when you visit Venice? “It sounds a bit old-fashion, but the gondola tour still has significant meaning because it lets you see all of Venice. The water is the best place to be.” It’s from this vantage point that Coin will find inspiration for future collections to come.
Venetian Princess 18K Rose Gold Earrings with Diamonds and Semiprecious Stones
Venetian Princess 18K Yellow Gold & Diamond Ring
$2090.00 at saksfifthavenue.com
18K Yellow Gold Medallion Diamond & Red Agate Pendant
$8883425.00 at bloomingdales.com
Venetian Princess Diamond Medium Flower Drop Earrings
Venetian Princess 18K Yellow Gold, Lapis Lazuli & Diamond Beaded Stretch Bracelet
Venetian Princess 18K Rose Gold, Titanium & Diamond Medium Flower Pendant Necklace
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