CARLA BRUNI-SARKOZY ON DIVA
What is your personal relationship with jewels? Jewellery is more intimate than anything else. Physically intimate as it adorns the body, often close to where the heart is beating. But more intimate for its significance in the world of feelings; it touches matters of the soul. It declares a passion, betokens love, carries a memory, seals an engagement ... It always has a story to tell. What does Bulgari represent to you? Bulgari is for me the symbol of passion and of this vivid Roman gaiety. Colourful, like the ’70s bracelet my aunt wore when I was a child. I loved that bracelet. I loved its joy, its fantasy. I dreamed of one day possessing such a wonder of my own! I was told that like me it came from Italy to Paris. Perhaps that was part of why I loved it, too. I later discovered that the treasure I so coveted came from Bulgari. Which Bulgari “facet” intrigues you most? What stories have been told by Bulgari since it began! Simply the sound of this name evokes Rome, its dolce vita, and the golden age of the Cinecittà. Just three murmured syllables and we dream of the love affair between Liz Taylor and Richard Burton, we imagine ourselves a heroine of Visconti, we see Anita Ekberg running barefoot through the streets to escape the paparazzi, and we run laughing down the steps of the Piazza di Spagna. And which one of jewellerymaking in particular? As a model I have worked with leading haute couture and haute joaillerie houses. I have come to know the different crafts and appreciate the master craftsmen, apprentices, and seamstresses. My Foundation aims to showcase these magnificent crafts and encourage school leavers into these professions. For some of these crafts are disappearing. And without crafts-people, the story ends, the magic is extinguished. How did you feel about representing the image of Bulgari High Jewellery? It makes me very proud and very happy. In a way, this fine jewellery house is already familiar to me. I feel connected with its romantic history and Italian soul, which breathes life and joy, and I sincerely hope to honour it.