Giovanni Raspini presents Babylon
Giovanni Raspini's latest creation, presented in Milan last week, is called Babylon.
A huge creative effort on the part of the patron, who has generated an extraordinary collection that skillfully combines inspirations from the wonderful world of 1920s and ‘30s Art Deco with the shapes and charm of the animal world.
«I have always been fascinated by Art Deco, the movement that was born with the famous Parisian Exhibition of 1925,» says Giovanni Raspini. «But what I like most is the veritable explosion of signs that the new style brought about over a twenty-year period throughout our world. The creative energy of those years seemed almost uncontainable. Indeed, it was a new expressive Babylon, a truly stimulating period. After the Great Depression of 1929, life began to flourish again with tremendous dynamism, confidence in the future and an immense willingness to get things done. In the United States, Deco had an enormous influence on architecture, design, furniture, industrial and automotive design. Novels such as Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, architecture such as the Chrysler Building in New York, the powerful pictorial art of Baroness Tamara de Lempicka, or even the 1931 Airstream caravan with its sinuous, ultra-modern aluminum lines.»
Babylon is crafted in silver using the traditional lost-wax casting technique, a hallmark of the brand, and includes large, luminous zircons that enhance the gleam and sparkle of the silver. The collection, made up of only 100 pieces for each creation, is interpreted in three stylistically autonomous worlds that are, however, complementary and uniform in the mood expressed.
The first creation is the Crocodile Palace necklace, in which the burnished silver textures of the large reptile converse with Deco-style architectural inserts. Hanging at the bottom, a large transparent baguette-cut zircon stands out, surmounted by a small crocodile encircling the stone. A sumptuous and technically complex item of jewelry where the Giovanni Raspini mark and Art Deco shapes meet and unite in perfect harmony.
The Leopard Empire bracelet, earrings and ring set, on the other hand, consists of three matching pieces, again in burnished silver with large, carré (square) and baguette (rectangular) cubic zirconia. Here too, the decorative geometric elements encounter the animalier suggestion of a leopard framing the transparent stones.
Lastly, the Lion Astoria set, consisting of a large necklace and two earrings, all in burnished silver and carré-cut cubic zirconia. The stylistic choice for this jewel was completely anti-naturalistic. Indeed, the lion becomes almost a protome of the deco lion with its forceful, rhythmic hair and rugged, graphic sign.
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