Roberto Coin: Treasures from the City of Gold
Published on 27 March 2024
For more than 25 years, Roberto Coin and his eponymous brand have been melding fine jewellery with folklore.
Jewellery has always had a magnetic pull on Roberto Coin. “Like many Italians, I’ve always been obsessed with fashion and style,” he says. It’s an attraction that prompted a young Coin to leave his career as a successful hotelier and in 1977 and travel from Guernsey, England, back to Vicenza, Italy (nicknamed the City of Gold), where he spent the next seven years learning the craft from Italian masters.
Coin went on to work for some of the world’s finest jewellery brands, including Buccellati, but he wanted to do more. So, in 1996, he started his own maison. “I wanted to create a brand that was both high quality and provided excellent customer service, which as a hotelier I learned was invaluable.”
The Roberto Coin brand now sells in 64 countries and creates more than 600 new designs every year. Coin credits nature; architecture in the cities of Venice, Verona and Vicenza; and myths, fairytales and folklore as his main inspirations. His continuous research is fuelled by a desire to bring “happiness to my clients.”
Coin’s enthusiasm for mythology is perhaps best represented through the brand’s trademark – a small ruby hidden on the underside of each jewellery piece. “In ancient Egypt, pharaohs believed the ruby guaranteed love, joy and health if kept in contact with the skin. These stories help us feel good when we wear the jewellery. And really what I want to do is spread positivity and joy through my work.”
“It’s inspired by Romeo and Juliet,” says Coin. “I wanted to create jewellery connected to one of Italy’s most iconic cities.” The collection includes the Love in Verona Ring with Diamonds, featuring a four-petal diamond flower set into 18-carat gold worked to a high-gloss finish.
The floral decorations of Venetian palaces informed these ornate designs. A highlight, the Princess Flower Bangle with Diamonds and Black Jade, combines 18-carat satin-finished gold with a series of jewelled blooms, a favourite motif for Coin. “We have more flowers than a florist!”
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