The Tuscan designer Giovanni Raspini does not only use his creativity for the jewelery brand that bears his name, but also for jewel-sculptures that are put on display, as in the case of Superstones / Jewels from the heart of the Earth, an event that presents 30 unique pieces. These sculpture-jewels replace the precious gems traditionally used in jewellery, with different natural stones and minerals. The minerals are placed at the center of large necklaces, maxi rings, bracelets and a tiara. The dimensions are extra large, but this is not jewelry to wear to the cinema. The sculptures represent an exercise in research on the origin of minerals, combined with the craftsmanship of sculpture and lost wax casting.
I had been thinking about Superstones for a long time with the eccentric idea of replacing minerals and stones with the usual gems in my creations of unique pieces: using shiny crystals, minerals with phantasmagoric colours, dimensions and shapes, rare stones, materials unknown to most people, but also corals and baroque pearls. I thus discovered a fascinating and mysterious world from which to create absolutely unconventional jewels in terms of style, richness and size. Superstones is an important challenge, since the decoration and structure of the jewel itself takes into account and is in perfect stylistic harmony with the stones used, which become narrative fragments. With great passion we searched for minerals in every part of the world, which were beautiful, rare and fascinating. Naturally, as with the brand’s other exhibitions, Superstones is also a large collective work, which I conceived, but created with high-level collaborators who brought their conceptual and artistic contribution.
Giovanni Raspini
The relationship with the University of Florence and Giovanni Pratesi, geologist and scientific communicator, curator of the mineralogical collections of the Natural History Museum of Florence contributed to the work of Giovanni Raspini. The exhibition will be in Milan on 24 May 2024, and will remain open (free entry) until 2 June and then move to Rome from 7 to 9 June and to Catania from 28 to 30 June
Superstones / Jewels from the heart of the Earth
Free entry
MILAN
Napoleonic Foundry
Via Genova Thaon di Revel, 21
May 24 – June 2 – Hours: 10:00 – 19:00
ROME
Coffee House in Palazzo Colonna
Piazza dei Santi Apostoli, 67
7 – 9 June – Hours: 10:00 – 20:00
CATANIA
Biscari Palace
Via Museo Biscari, 10
28 – 30 June – Hours: 10:00-13:00 / 16:00-19:00
