UK Edition
In My Jewellery Box: Stefania Pramma
Accessories designer Stefania Pramma was born in Milan, Italy, where she and her twin sister Valeria (Napoleone – now an established art collector) occupied themselves by customising and designing their own clothes and accessories. They regularly visited a local goldsmith who would make their jewellery designs come to life, and they christened the resulting assortment of trinkets the SVP collection – a range they still add to today.
Pramma and her family moved to New York in 1986, where she studied fashion illustration and diamond grading, and she began her handbag design career in the 1990s, working for Judith Leiber and Barry Kieselstein-Cord. In 2014 she launched her own range of leather handbags, which are handmade in Italy and finished with hardware adorned with precious and semi-precious stones, fusing the designer’s obsession with craftsmanship and her lifelong love of jewellery. Pramma shares the most precious pieces from her own collection.
Barry Kieselstein-Cord green gold alligator ring
In the late 1990s I had the privilege of designing accessories for Barry Kieselstein-Cord in New York. He was and still is one of the most influential American designers – I always admired him even before I started working for him, and my journey as a designer has been strongly influenced by his work. This ring is one of his iconic pieces and it carries a lot of meaning for me.
It’s made in green gold, which is a very specific alloy of yellow gold with a tint of olive green that he created in his studio. Like all of his pieces, it was hand carved in wax by sculptors and has a grilled back that is as amazing as the front. I bought it while I was working there – I just had to have it. All of his jewellery has this extreme sense of craftsmanship and artisanship that you can’t help but appreciate. I wear this ring every single day and I call him Tony; my sister has another one – they’re twins. While I was working for Barry I designed an updated version of the alligator which was much sleeker, but this is the original.
1970s Manfredi bone choker
This choker belonged to my mother – I stole it from her, I don’t think she realises that she doesn’t have it any more. I love it because it has a very 1970s, Italian feel, which is an era I love. It reminds me of a time when there were a lot of elegant jewellery boutiques in Milan; it’s signed by Manfredi which was a very iconic jewellery brand at the time. The old gold has this beautiful patina which adds more character over time; the scratches and oxidisation tells you that it’s made by hand, not by a machine. I think it’s made of bone, with a hinge in the back which has a tiny spring: an extremely sophisticated mechanism.
I remember my mum wearing it in the 1970s and looking very cool, and I love the way it clasps the neck like a snake when I wear it. It really makes a look. To me, anything I treasure in my jewellery box is really about craftsmanship and timelessness; my favourites are not necessarily the most fashionable pieces, but they have character and they talk to you.
Blue topaz heart pendant
This piece is very dear to me because it is the first piece I acquired at auction, when I was around 17. I had dragged my parents to a small auction in Milan because I saw a little pendant that I loved and I begged my father to let me bid on it. I was really happy when I won it. Originally it was just a brooch, but at the time I was more into chokers so I went to my goldsmith in Milan (who I still use today) and we added on three tiny chains with some diamonds linking them, to turn it into a necklace. Nowadays I’m generally attracted to very bold, sometimes masculine pieces, so this is unusual for me – it’s very romantic and feminine, it’s so outside of my usual style that I love it. It has a lot of flaws: the soldering is not perfect and there is a diamond missing, but I love the imperfection of it. It must have a story in itself.
SVP foot pendant
This is an SVP piece. SVP is a private collection that my sister and I created when we were 16 or 17 when we first started designing. We always liked jewellery; it was part of our upbringing: in Italy you celebrate special occasions with little jewels or charms, so we had always grown up around it. We started putting our own twist on pieces we were given, we’d ask our goldsmith to modify pieces. So we’ve ended up with a collection which spans the 1970s up until now, and each piece specifically talks to the time it was created.
This foot pendant was one of the more recent creations: it was made around 1990, but inspired by a 1970s onyx charm that my mother used to wear on a long leather cord. Twenty years later I decided I also wanted a foot, but I made this one larger, in hammered gold with a fire opal and black diamonds. It’s quite big, about the size of my palm, and I usually wear it on a little chain, although I used to wear it on a leather cord like the one my mother had.
Native American wrist guard
Jewellery for me is very meaningful because it reminds me of certain times and vacations: this was a purchase during a family holiday to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. My sister and I discovered a tiny Native American gallery that stocked amazing artefacts and objects – from horse blankets and head pieces to embroidery. I loved this sterling silver wrist guard because it reminded me of the fact that jewellery is not only an adornment; it has function. Traditionally archers used to wear these wrist guards to protect their wrists from the snap of the bow string. It’s very basic – it’s made of unlined cow leather and there’s a lot of string on the back that keeps it together. The roughness of it combined with the beauty of the engraving is what I love. It reminds me of Native American carpets. I usually wear it as a cuff with a kaftan – I like the contrast of something so chunky with something light and feminine.