There are gregarious spirits, critical spirits, spirits of the times. Then, there are the free spirits. Caging them in a definition is impossible. They are composed of the same multiform matter present in the universe. Betony Vernon, design director of Pianegonda, is part of this small group of people who are many things in one. One aspect, however, is clear: she is not a woman who is satisfied. She likes to innovate, discover, create. With an ability to go beyond the boundaries established by the old rules. «But it’s not always easy, sometimes I feel like a candle in the wind», she tells jewels.com. The designer has settled in Italy, in Umbria, a couple of hours from the headquarters of Bros Manifatture in the Marche region.
If she has a free spirit, it is also her because Betony grew up in a non-traditional family in Virginia (USA): her helicopter pilot father also had a marked aptitude for artisanal and technical creativity. Her English mother was an art historian who was able to fight for civil rights in the 1960s, when it wasn’t very easy to do so. In short, an imprinting that Betony has cultivated over time and that has opened the door to a challenge to her comfort zone. Model, artist, designer, writer, sculptor, sexual anthropologist: Betony Vernon’s many lives in one follow an irregular path.
Graduated in art history and goldsmithing in Virginia, the designer moved to Florence to specialize in metalworking at the Fuji Studio Art Workshop. «A beautiful city, but I needed to go further and I moved to Milan for a master’s degree at the prestigious Domus Academy», says Betony. «Architecture and design gurus such as Ettore Sottsass, Alessandro Mendini or Andrea Brandi were my teachers, the tutelary deities».
The decision to focus on design resulted in her first studio, Atelier B.V., which was followed by work for the Florentine Pampaloni and, as an interior designer, for Fornasetti. «And for Gianfranco Ferré I designed a collection of 30 pieces in gold and diamonds, on the theme of the safety pin: it was among the first fashion houses that crossed the border with jewellery». But she has also worked with Missoni, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Swarovski for jewels worn by Lady Gaga. It was in Milan that the designer discovered Pianegonda for the first time: «New, different jewellery, with an innovative design. And in silver, a metal that I love very much. I also thought that I would like to work if there was an opportunity. And the crossroads of destiny wanted it this way».
After a long parenthesis in Paris and the creation of videos, books, photographs, television programs such as The Boudoir for Mtv, sculptures and jewels, and after dealing without taboos with the theme of sensuality as a search for well-being, Betony Vernon received a phone call from Beatrice Beleggia, CEO of Bros Usa, the American branch of the Bros Manifatture group, which owns the Pianegonda brand. «I accepted with enthusiasm. The idea is to give a new identity to a historic brand. I started with colour: blue, like the sky I see from my house in Umbria», says the designer. And Betony Vernon seems the right person for her, precisely because of her interdisciplinary ability to create in different fields, which once would have been defined as Renaissance. Pianegonda, having left the Latin names of the collections on the street, perhaps not sufficiently perceptible to the general public, on the initiative of Betony has renewed the boutique in the fashion district of Milan, but also the packaging.
Assoluto, on the other hand, is the name of the first Pianegonda collection signed by Betony Vernon. Central motif: the sphere, one of the primordial forms and a design icon of the American creator. «The sphere is the center of life, of the cosmos, it represents the atom, the particle that makes up everything. It is at the same time something concrete and at the same time a symbol », explains Betony, who chose an unconventional model like Anna Cleveland for the collection.
The work for Pianegonda has just begun. Silver and gold will coexist under the stars of the designer, with simple and surprising shapes. Next stop: the new collection scheduled for autumn, in time for the appointment with Vicenzaoro.
