The birth of contemporary goldsmithing in Italy

“The quality of a project depends on the degree, however minimal, of cultural change it triggers.”

Even today, two types of goldsmith production exist in Italy: a commercial one, created by mould by the large manufacturing companies or by the goldsmith in the small workshop, appreciated by a traditionalist and not very curious clientele, and a contemporary, research one, created both by the artist of clear fame (meaning not only painters and sculptors, but also architects and designers) who tries his hand at a field, that of goldsmithing, unknown to him, and by gold artists.

The market and its laws should deal with the first, the art critics with the second. One can easily understand an attitude of cautious reserve towards an art, that of ornament, which has always been exposed to the changing currents of fashion and taste and which struggles to renew itself from a design point of view.

That said, one cannot justify the lack of attention paid by contemporary critics to jewellery, even more so if one considers that Italy is among the first industrialised countries in the world in terms of the production and working of gold; I am referring to the three major districts, Arezzo, Vicenza and Valenza Po, and other goldsmith centres such as Milan, Florence, Genoa, Naples, Turin and Fano.

As previously mentioned, even for Italy, the post-war period marked the beginning of independent research in the goldsmith sector. Between 1945 and the beginning of the 1960s, Italy experienced an extraordinary period of reconstruction and renewal. Production and wages grew exponentially. Information and education helped spread the needs and desires of the "mass". The economic boom favored the birth of a dynamic, proactive middle class, attentive to new things and, above all, eager to buy. Women took on a new central role in the family and work environment, decreeing their emancipation. The youth movements of political protest, which would soon animate, even violently, the city squares, began to desire a type of clothing and ornament that was not standardized and imposed by social conventions.

The new pendants, brooches and bracelets made explicit an ideological choice and were made of unusual and poor materials such as rope, leather, glass paste, silver or plastic. The clear cry of protest of the young generations against the values ​​of the new capitalist and technological society brings to mind the intentions of retreating to a “simplified”, original, more natural state, of a group of artists who, in those same years, elected “poor” material as their own expressive language (Mario Merz, Giuseppe Penone…).

Industrial objects for the home and for the person were produced, in particular jewellery which could now be affordable for everyone and, on the other hand, the wealthier classes, who loved to show off their wealth and well-being, still preferred the creations of the great fashion houses such as jewellery designed by Bulgari.