Cut for the Spotlight

Bvlgari's luminous creations – where stardom meets heritage – owe their spirit to India's craft and creative director Lucia Silvestri's vision

- Ananya Shankar

A sultry October afternoon in Mumbai finds the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) hum with the anticipation of a major (and undoubtedly celebrity-studded) event. Designers set up backdrops stamped with Bvlgari’s unmistakeable branding, brand representatives dart around with walkie-talkies in hand, journalists queue up for back-to-back interviews. But step into a quiet side room, and the energy shifts.

There sits Lucia Silvestri, executive creative director of Bvlgari jewellery. She's dressed in a plain beige suit, but her jewels — layered necklaces, a cabochon cocktail ring, a stack of bracelets and gem-studded earrings catching the light— do all the talking.

“I have a special connection with gems,” she tells The Hollywood Reporter India, pulling out sketches from the brand’s Serpenti Infinito Exhibit, which was on display at NMACC last month.

One sketch illustrates the Serpenti Maharani Secret necklace — boasting a 109.27-carat cabochon rubellite stone, surrounded by diamonds and turquoise. It’s the very necklace that actor Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Bvlgari’s global brand ambassador, wore to their gala later that evening. Also present at the event were actors Tamannaah Bhatia, Keerthy Suresh, Samantha Ruth Prabhu and businesswoman Isha Ambani Piramal, adorned in Bvlgari jewellery.

“Last year, I saw this rubellite in the rough and spoke to the owner,” Silvestri says. “I said I'd like a pear shape, more than 100 carats with a soft, beautiful, cabochon stone.” From the rough stone to the red carpet, it took a month to design, six months to realise and a year to bring to life. She adds: “It was my dream.”