Elsa Peretti

Elsa Peretti... Tiffany's designer passed into the next life on 3/18/2021. I don't claim to know everything there is about her, but on the outside, it appears that she must have had a beautiful life. Sketch pads, organic fragments, memories of modeling for Halson, and a home near Barcelona? Oh, and a career of blue boxes. What an existence! Of course, we only know what we see...but what we see is pretty amazing.

There are lots of people living beautiful lives, and frankly, this isn't interesting. What is interesting is her fabulous, lottery-of-the-careers, once-in-a-century opportunity that she had in working for Tiffany's.

Per the stories I have read, she started the process of designing with Tiffany's in 1974. What a tough time to be in the jewelry business, if I am to go off the social unrest in America at the time.

Throughout low points in history, well-adorned women knew when to put their jewels away. That blue pear sapphire with diamonds is going to look ridiculous during a time of war. Your pearls would look out of place with those bold lines and flower-power pants. Yes, the look of the 70s and the distaste of all things conservative left no room for lavish and brag-worthy pieces. Take a look at how Jackie Onaiss dressed at the time. Clean, fluid lines. A pair of gold earrings. If you have seen her collection, you would know that she put those blingy babies in the vault.

As a small-time basement-jewelry-designer myself, I can't imagine designing pieces at a time when jewelry wasn't the hip thing to buy according to the up-and-coming bohemian generation. What do you create for a group that doesn't want the traditional look...when you are working for a design house that is based on tradition?

What did Coco Chanel do? She invented an entirely new look with suit jackets for women before it was acceptable. Elsa Peretti did the same...only with sterling silver and smooth shapes.

Elsa was not the first to use sterling silver for her designs. But if you look at some of her early work, it had a simplicity and a sleekness that gave it a high-end feel. She helped make sterling silver a popular alternative to gold. Here I thought it was David Yurman who made silver so popular. All these years studying and following jewelry trends...who knew it was Elsa had a hand in it? (DY was the first designer to set diamonds in sterling silver...that's one of his unique contributions).

According to the articles you may read on Elsa, she wanted affordable pieces for women to wear, as well as...um, wearable. There really is no better way to say it. Jewelry has to be wearable. 'A woman cannot realistically wear one million dollars,' is one quote of hers that I keep reading.

A million dollars? True enough. But even a tenth of that in the 1970s would have been too much...but perhaps not a stretch for the typical Tiffany's customers of the previous decade. Even so, Elsa spent a good chunk of her early adult life in New York City. She knew how impractical diamonds could be. And the New York of the 1970s is NOT the New York of today. But for women who still wanted to wear jewelry, simple pieces in silver were a nice, social compromise.

Elsa's designs had a global impact. But she had an even bigger impact in her local community. Starting in 1980, she spent a good deal of her life in a village just outside of Barcelona, Spain. Sant Martivell, Catalonia. She had spent a decade reconstructing her home there but didn't stop with her casa. She went on to help rebuild and restore the village, which had gone into disrepair many, many years earlier. All this fascinating history--Roman ruins, an old beautiful church-- she donated creative energy, vision, time, and funding. The creation of a vineyard was added, and by 2008, wine production was underway: Eccocivi. I can only bet many a glass will be raised in her honor.

What a beautiful life! To start out in the glitz and glamour that modeling offered, and slide into a career where your silver pieces are in demand. To top off your life helping people in the community...how can we not find the treasure in this?

Rest in peace, dear Elsa, from this one, beautiful life and onto the next journey. This basement-designer thanks you!