Amanda Triossi – an expert of Sotheby's, the registrar and curator of the BVLGARY anniversary exhibition, collector of jewelry and author of some books about jewelry art - intends to visit Russia in the near future with an authorial workshop, “Understanding jewelry.”

Amanda, how did it happen that jewelry became your calling?

When I was about four years old I came across a magazine with pictures of the coronation ceremony of Reza Pahlavi, Iran’s Shahanshah. There were a lot of orientally styled magnificent and eye-catching things – a gem-studded crown, a throne and the main thing - his wife Soraya wearing various jewelry pieces which struck my childish imagination. I could infinitely look through this magazine instead of books about Pinocchio and Cinderella.

While going to school I earned a bit on the side as a tutor of English – this is almost my native language (my father is Italian and my mother comes from Britain) - and having received my first earned money I bought two gems in a flea market which were a sapphire and ruby. I had some modest gold trinkets given to me as gifts on some occasion, so I ordered to melt them into rings and insert there these stones. Now that I am an expert I understand to what extent they were awful, beneath any criticism!

I studied history of arts at Cambridge and the subject of my diploma was Italian: jewelry pieces on the Florentine portraits of the Early Renaissance masters.

Were there any jewelers among your ancestors?

My parents had nothing to do with jewelry, but they come from creative medium: my father is an architect though once he dreamt to become geologist and was very much interested in minerals, while my mother is a theater actress. Incidentally, my monstrous rings with a ruby and sapphire shocked her terribly.

How did you come to work with Sotheby’s?

After Cambridge I started as a volunteer with Sotheby’s London jewelry department – I was eager to get wide knowledge in the jewelry field. Working with a prestigious auction house gives you a chance to see and deal with top quality jewelry of different styles and epochs. I began with cataloguing Portuguese jewelry pieces of the 17th and 18th centuries, and there were exclusive diamonds – one of them was an amazing stone of approximately 10 carats in size, pear-shaped and in obvious orange color. I shall never forget this diamond!

Then I worked as an auctioneer in Amsterdam. There were amazing discoveries. You know, sometimes Russian things made by unknown authors happen to be auctioned. Once I saw a collector who had not only Faberge pieces, but also his drawings. Having asked permission to photograph them, I suddenly understood that the design of one necklace was an exact match of the jewelry piece from Russia made by an “unknown author.” In did not occur to anyone that this author could be someone from the Faberge House.

Later on I was offered to read a course of lectures on jewelry art history. Everyone liked the course, me too. So this is how the idea of the workshop was born and it was named “Understanding Jewelry.”

There are legends told about your collection of vanguard jewelry…

I like very much stylish jewelry charged with internal force, even authoritativeness. It all started at an auction when I saw an extravagant set: chalcedony crystals, baroque pearls and diamonds chaotically sinking in melted gold.

It was a masterpiece of Gilbert Albert, a vanguard designer from Geneva, and having seen it, I could not think of anything else. Since everyone around found it absolutely disgusting, I had a possibility to buy it at a reasonable price. Having obtained the treasure I slept with it putting it under my pillow and waking up at night to touch it.

From that time on I collect jewelry items with uncut gems, crystals and pieces of rock or items made of melted metal, amorphous necklaces and brooches a la the 60s of the past century which are again becoming fashionable.

I do not take great interest in clothes (I have only a few things from Armani - their shop is right under my apartment in Rome). I spend all my money for the collection. Sometimes my husband gives me something - his family has long been engaged in antiquarian business so he is close to what I am doing. By the way, when I got acquainted with him, he asked what I was doing, and I said that I collected jewelry.

Did it look like a joke? Or was he frightened?

He asked if it was possible for him to have a look at my collection. Sometimes people seeing my jewelry turn polite saying something like “it is unusual” or “this is something special,” but you see that they do not understand. And he really liked it and this generated sympathy between us.

Please say a few words about your workshop “Understanding Jewelry.”

I tell people how to look at jewelry, how to distinguish original pieces from fakes and a masterpiece from kitsch, how to keep one’s bearings in the great variety of precious materials, how to understand brands and special hallmarks. Separate lectures are dedicated to art deco pieces (currently this style is in great demand, it is already classics) and to pieces made in the end of the 20th century. I like my lecturing activity, it is pleasant to travel all over the world, get acquainted with the culture of other peoples. In Moscow it was a pleasure to visit the Kremlin - the Armory Museum and Diamond Fund.

Do you like diamonds?

I like them, but not loose and only if they are part of some fascinating design. I love gems in their natural crystal form - raw crystals as natural phenomena, they look very unusually, especially octahedrons.

Unfortunately, so far I have very few diamond sets in my collection - possibly, in the future I will buy more, or someone will give them to me for presents. Though I have never been attracted by solitaires, nevertheless recently large single stones started to charm me.

As Marilyn Monroe sang diamonds, a girl’s best friend, “don’t lose their shape.” Perhaps, they started to appeal to me. But, as I have already said, in collecting I am attracted not so much by stones, but by design and its development in time.

For an expert in classical art your taste is probably more alternative.

The most important thing about a jewelry piece is to express your individuality. And it always reflects the epoch when it was created; after all, jewelry business is also a social and economic history. I was lucky being on a recent trip to Moscow to visit the Diamond Fund once again, where I was fascinated not only by wonderful natural diamonds, but also by one of the world’s best collections of jewelry belonging to the 18th century. Undoubtedly, this was one of the most vivid impressions of my stay in Russia.

Galina Semyonova, Rough&Polished