The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Designer Elsa Peretti became ‘halo for Tiffany’
Elsa Peretti, who has died at the age of 80, took inspiration from everyday objects and turned them into items of beauty for high-end jewellers Tiffany.
The designer, who passed away in a village close to Barcelona, Spain, leaves a legacy comprising a body of exceptional design work as well as a foundation dedicated to humanitarian, environmental and conservation causes.
Peretti was born in Florence and educated in Rome and Switzerland. She later returned to Rome to pursue a degree in interior design. By 1969, she had established herself as a fashion model in New York and Barcelona and was also beginning to design her own jewellery.
US fashion designer Giorgio di Sant’angelo used a few of her pieces in a fashion show, where they were an instant hit. By the following day, she was the toast of New York. It was during this period that she met the legendary US fashion designer and seventies icon Halston, who became her lifelong friend and with whom she collaborated frequently.
Halston introduced Elsa to US jewellers Tiffany & Co in 1974, with whom she started working in an exclusive collaboration that lasted throughout her career.
Her inspiration was often drawn from everyday items – a bean, a bone, an apple could be transformed into cufflinks, bracelets, vases or lighters, scorpions and snakes were turned into appealing necklaces and rings, often in silver which was one of her preferred materials. She herself stated “there is no new design, because good lines and shapes are timeless”.
Her designs are in the permanent collections of the British Museum in London; The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City; the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts; and the Museum of Fine Arts.
In recognition of her remarkable work, Tiffany established the Elsa Peretti Professorship in Jewellery Design at the Fashion Institute of Technology.
Peretti was renowned for her witty charm, openness to others, kindness and generosity. She had a deep humanitarian calling and supported cultural, scientific and educational initiatives as well as committing to the defence of human rights.
In 2000, she created a charity in honour of her father, the Nando and Elsa Peretti Foundation. The foundation supports a broad range of projects for the promotion of human and civil rights, with a special emphasis on the right to education, children’s rights and women’s rights and dignity.
The foundation has supported requests from around the world, including initiatives on behalf of unrepresented people and oppressed minorities, to defend their right to exist and preserve their culture.
It also supports medical and scientific research projects to promote physical and mental health, as well as specific interventions including the building of hospitals and other sanitary facilities.
It has funded public awareness campaigns for wildlife conservation and environmental protection, and promotes culture and the arts.
Michael Kowalski, former chairman and CEO of Tiffany & Co, said of Peretti: “She is one of the greatest jewellery designers of the 20th Century and has taken us beyond the realm of commercial success into design history.
“She is a halo for the entire brand.”