Diamonds and precious stones, but with a dash of pizzazz, joy and panache. daring styles to play around with and combine in a mix and match of materials and preciousness to always stand out and feel at ease
Patrizia di Carrobio was one of the first female auctioneers at one of the most famous auction houses in the world, Christie’s, in the Jewelry Department, quickly becoming one of the firm’s senior gem appraisers, and eventually heading the Jewelry Department.
Today she one of the most authoritative and expert names in the field, for more than 30 years an international dealer in diamonds, precious stones and vintage jewels. Born in Canada to Italian parents, she lives in New York City, and has her office in the heart of Midtown on Fifth Avenue. She is always on the go, between Italy, Geneva, Milano and Hong Kong to buy and sell stones, offer her consultant services to her international clientele and lecture on jewelry. At present she is touring US and Europe to promote her brand-new, just-off-the-press book, “Be Jeweled”.
Your brand-new book, “Be Jeweled”, glitters like its title. Would you tell us a bit about it?
I was looking for a title that alluded to jewelry but also let people understand it was about life. It’s not about jewels, but talks about jewels and it talks also about my own life. I consider myself to be a lucky woman. Although I cannot say my life has been easy, it certainly has been wonderful and I’m definitely enjoying it.
Which piece of jewelry do you see making a comeback?
The brooch, I guess it’s coming back. I realize it has some drawbacks for instance: one, when you wear it, on or near the shoulder, you don’t see it. But you can play around with it. Why don’t you pin it to the hemline of a dress, or just above the knee for example. Pin it on a scarf, or a ribbon to tie around your wrist. Also, you could wear two or three brooches together, or one on each shoulder. There are millions of different ways to wear a brooch!
Great street smartness and playfulness ... it looks like having fun is a key-word in your life and choices.
Absolutely! I have a pair of earrings made out of paper by my friend Angela Simone, and I love it when everyone says to me, “Oh, what beautiful earrings!” Subconsciously or unconsciously, I do that for shock effect and to question something. I think there is never only one way to do things. I say “to shock”, but I really mean to give others the opportunity to think that the same object can be used in so many different ways.
You, who deal in diamonds and precious jewels and stones, wear paper earrings and I see on your wrist a Swatch!
I love wearing it, and it drives my ex-husband crazy! I have fun wearing the pink swatch together with a diamond ring. Even my daughters tell me, “Mom, you can’t go to your book presentation like this,” and I reply, “Why not?”
Going back to the brooch, which in our collective imagination brings bad luck, like pearls… A myth to debunk?
It’s a simple issue: a brooch is like a pin with a sharp point that can prick you. It’s like walking under a ladder, it’s a very Italian thing. Walking under a ladder can be dangerous because if someone on it has a bucket of paint in their hand, they could accidentally drop it on your head. Or like bringing an umbrella in the house is bad luck because, of course, it gets everything wet! If you think about it, very often these traditions have logical origins, but this isn’t why they’re unlucky. Take the opal for instance: it’s a very fragile stone so it can easily break.
And how about pearls?
Maybe we think it’s bad luck because they are tear-shaped, but actually how it’s formed is very instructive. Just think, at the bottom of the sea an oyster produces such a splendid thing in order to rid itself of an extraneous object.
Jewel’s bon ton rules?
There are no rules! It depends on your outfit but really you can wear whatever you like, even an Art Deco bracelet that peeks out from your cardigan sleeve. It’s about your attitude and the way you wear things. A diamond necklace on a turtleneck: it’s amazing but it depends on how it makes you feel.
The evening according to Patrizia di Carrobio.
There isn’t specific jewelry for day or night. As I was saying, you wear what you like. The evening is the social moment par excellence, for repartee with friends. You have to be open, feel at ease; wear jewels that reveal your personality not hide it. A piece of evening jewelry is the one that makes you feel splendid! As I always say, what really matters is how beautiful a particular jewel makes you feel, not how much it costs.
The glam social life in New York, where you presently live.
If you go to the Metropolitan Opera premiere, you will see fancy dressed women dripping in jewels, but I would say that in the real every day world it’s pretty rare to have jewelry just for evening wear also because in big cities today people don’t live next door to their workplace and don’t go home to change. I live in New York City: you go out in the morning and you return home after dinner, and it’s the same in Milano, Rome, London and Paris.
A tip to make the difference?
The idea that amuses you. I have a diamond, ceramic, cord and gold bracelet created by James Taffin de Givenchy: it’s an object that yes has a certain amount of value, but not too much. But what makes me laugh is that everyone admires it because of its colors and combination of materials. Those who are in jewelry understand it, those who aren’t don’t, but admire it anyway. Take for example Laura Cadelo Bertrand jewelry made of aluminum, copper and other non-precious materials.
A classical question: how about the engagement ring?
It’s back in fashion, totally in the US, but also lately in Italy even though fewer people are getting married there. It’s back maybe because the protagonists of the industry such as De Beers and Tiffany have really pushed the myth of the engagement ring. There has been this “push” and, whether you like it or not, fashion and the big brands influence us. But you can also easily find alternatives: for example when my nephew got engaged he proposed to her with a bicycle! They have been married for two years now and so far I have never heard her complain and crave for the ring!
Getting back to you, in the book you say you were married twice and never got an engagement ring!
For my first marriage I was a non-conformist, I wanted to break with traditions and I didn’t want it at all. Actually in the second case I would have wanted the ring, but I got a necklace instead!
Still about you, tell us about your first steps and career...
At 24 I decided I wanted to work with jewels, we are talking about 40 years ago. At the time, there were very few women in the field, so I said to myself, “I have to work for an auction house, because it’s there that I can learn.” I went to Christie’s in London but they didn’t want a woman. In the meantime I moved to New York with my first husband and here I started out as an assistant of the assistant of the assistant: slowly I developed an eye for it, probably it was already there, and so I climbed the ladder to success, always becoming more expert. I then asked to become an auctioneer, studied to pass the exam and then they put me on the auction block.
And today?
Today I am a merchant of precious stones and vintage jewels.
A jewel is always a safe investment?
When I sell I never sell with this objective, because, like everything else in life, the stock exchange or real estate for instance, it follows the trends of the times. Like the Upper East Side in New York: 15 years ago it was the most sought-after neighborhood in the city and today other areas are moving up and becoming more expensive. Tastes change, what people look for and ask for changes and market prices change: gold goes up or down and diamonds do the same… But I think that if we consider jewelry as a precious commodity, it always make sense to invest in it. It’s the same with clothes: you keep them as long as you like wearing them. When you get tired of them, you can sell them and make a good amount of money!
What have you learnt from your own experience with such an international clientele?
Never take anything for granted. And discretion above all. You never know whom you have in front of you. A man might buy two identical pieces of jewelry, one for his wife and the other for his mistress.
To each country its own?
If I have to generalize I would say that in Russia they love to “show off”, as in fact they have always done. If we look at China, maybe they buy more moderate jewels but actually they love to show off too; and the Chinese are the biggest jade buyers in the world. And I would say that the Middle East today is the biggest buyer of natural pearls, and they ask for very big sizes and cuts. And in the US they are really traditional.
For these spring days what do you suggest? And countdown to summer has started: any particular tips to be jeweled also on the beach?
Well, I would say that in the summer we can play around even more and experiment with things we wouldn’t do in winter. We can be more daring with combinations that might usually be deemed as too excessive. In the summer, with a suntan, no holds are barred: play around with fanciful faux earrings, your favorite ring and why not, a plastic watch or an armful of super thin bangles that jangle a lot and… wake up everyone on the beach!
www.patriziadicarrobio.com
