Giovanni Raspini’s boundless creativity translates into a traveling exhibition with multiple suggestions. From 7 to 9 June open to the public from 10am to 8pm with free admission. The fascinating spaces of the Fonderia Napoleonica Eugenia in Milan saw the premiere of ‘Superstones / Jewels from the heart of the Earth’, the great creative project conceived and created by Giovanni Raspini, a famous jewelery brand. And from 7 June you can visit the eighteenth-century Coffee House of Palazzo Colonna in Rome. ‘Superstones’ was born as a real stylistic and conceptual challenge: seeking the beauty of jewelery in the unusual. Substituting minerals and stones for the precious gems traditionally used in jewellery, bringing about a sort of revolution, thus opening up space for new visions and possibilities.
The fracture that Giovanni Raspini triggers with this sumptuous exhibition is disruptive: on the one hand the absence of gems and precious stones, on the other the vivid presence of natural stones and minerals of every type, origin and appearance. The exhibition, focused on the display of thirty unique jewels, stands out for its boldness and innovation in the field of contemporary jewellery. From large necklaces to surprising rings, from bracelets to tiaras, each piece is designed to enhance the beauty and uniqueness of minerals. With ‘Superstones’, the Tuscan designer was able to see the artistic potential of the stones chosen for his creations.
He was able to read inside it, look at the beauty, the uniqueness, the scientific and emotional value, never forgetting the very design of each jewel, in a continuous dialogue between lost wax casting and ornament, form and function. A commitment that is the result of great creative energy and the collective work of visionary spirits, talented artisans and researchers who were able to express themselves at their best under the direction of Giovanni Raspini, himself the creator of wonderful creations.
”I had been thinking about ‘Superstones’ for a long time – reveals Raspini – with the eccentric idea of replacing the usual gems in my creations of unique pieces, minerals and stones: using shiny crystals, minerals with phantasmagoric colours, dimensions and shapes, rare stones, materials unknown to most, 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 real narrative fragments”.
”With great passion – he concludes – we looked for minerals from all over the world, which were beautiful, rare and fascinating. Naturally, as with the other exhibitions of our brand, ‘Superstones’ is also a large collective work, conceived by me, but with several high-level collaborators who brought their conceptual and artistic contribution”. For ‘Superstones’ Raspini felt the need to involve professional interlocutors and experts in the sector. Thanks to the relationship with the University of Florence, a fruitful collaboration was established with Professor Giovanni Pratesi, an internationally renowned geologist and scientific communicator, former curator of the prestigious mineralogical collections of the Natural History Museum of Florence.
Among the many jewels on display it is worth mentioning the Stone Reef necklace, where the dialogue between the madrepores of the coral reef modeled in bronze and the stones that arise in the bowels of the Earth is truly interesting, thanks also to the beauty and rarity of the minerals used; the Pappagalli necklace, with the fluttering birds covered in colored enamel, the immense tropical leaves in gilded bronze, but above all the large malachite, a very intense green mineral which recalls, in shape and colour, the deep, pulsating heart of the Amazon jungle.
And again the Profondo Blu ring embellished with intense azurite, on which delicate dolphins in gilded silver jump and chase each other; the Dragon bracelet, sumptuous and imposing, whose fantasy inspiration is confronted with the material strength of metal and the claws almost seem to envelop and dominate the human wrist, while a fragment of rust-orange quartz remains set behind the monster’s head; the Bollicine necklace in a fine violet-colored chalcedony, with spherical bubbles made of white bronze and some luminous baroque pearls. A work of creation and research that is gradually reflected in the very soul of the Tuscan brand, influencing and offering lifeblood to the new proposals and seasonal collections.
The ‘Superstones’ exhibition is the most recent of the many initiatives and events that the brand has dedicated over the years to the theme of goldsmith creation, from Wild/Segni and animalier jewels to ‘Vanitas Mundi’, from ‘Jewels from a Wunderkammer’ to ‘Around the World in Eighty Jewels’. Themes apparently different from each other, however united by the same creative and disruptive soul that characterizes Raspini’s entire creative and professional career.
After the inauguration in Milan (from 24 May to 2 June at the Fonderia Napoleonica) and in Rome (Coffee House of Palazzo Colonna 7-9-June), ‘Superstones’, embracing the entire peninsula, will arrive in Sicily, in Catania, near Palazzo Biscari, with an exhibition open to the public from 28 to 30 June. In support of the project, a publication with original texts and color photographs was created for Edizioni Edifir of Florence, which offers an in-depth look at the inspiration and creative process of ‘Superstones’.