A super necklace for ten

A historical necklace by a historical designer returns to live. In Brazil.
Story of an exceptional necklace that comes back to life. It is a story that is worth reading. First, because to draw it, and then wear it, it was Lina Bo Bardi (Rome, 1914 – São Paulo, 1992). She was an Italian architect, naturalized Brazilian, active in the modernist movement. For architecture and design enthusiasts, we remember that she began her career in the studio of Gio Ponti, in Milan. At the end of the war, after the 1943 bombing had destroyed the study who had opened on her own, with her husband Pietro Maria Bardi she moved to Brazil. She has become a great architect (with her famous Glass House, in the new district of Morumbi in Sao Paulo). In addition to designing modern buildings, the designer was the author of this spectacular necklace: 62 large aquamarines, gift of powerful Brazilian entrepreneur Assis Chateaubriand. Lina Bo Bardi designed the jewel, in which the stones seem to float on a gold set.
But in 1986 the necklace was stolen from the Glass house together with other 42 other jewels by four robbers: they threw away aquamarines to just sell the golden joint. “It was a cultural crime. For the first time, I felt anger for Brazil, “said Lina then.
Now, three decades later, the piece is reproduced in a limited edition by the Brazilian Talento Joias. The series includes ten numbered necklaces. In addition to the version with aquamarines, there will also be those with prasiolite, amethyst and blue topaz. The different versions will be on display in traveling exhibitions in Brazil. Federico Graglia