Pomellato’s new “Armonie Minerali” collection is divided into three chapters; pictured are three rings from “Pattern Hypnosis.”
When Pomellato debuted a collection using “hardstones”—opaque material—two years ago, the color and bold, large pieces instantly caught my eye, and I became slightly obsessed.
Well, they’ve followed up with another hardstones collection, and I’m just as in love.
To celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2017, the brand launched Ritratto, Italian for “Portrait,” a collection of rings featuring large portrait-cut gemstones, each stone selected for its particular intensity and unique pattern.
Now, continuing to work with similar material but finding a new way to present it, Pomellato has debuted “Armonie Minerali,” or “Mineral Harmony.”
Where Ritratto sought to frame the natural beauty of gemstones, Armonie Minerali is “a union of the marvel of nature and the infinite ingenuity of human creativity,” Pomellato said in a release about the new collection.
The collection equates human accomplishments with nature, offering a new take on “preciousness.”
This shot, provided by Pomellato, shows a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the new “Armonie Minerali” collection.
“This new collection is a game of complicity between man and nature, where craftsmanship and natural beauty unite in a joyous dance of unexpected combinations to form a new composition,” said Creative Director Vincenzo Castaldo.
“After all, playfulness, with a touch of irony and irreverence, is a defining trait of Pomellato.”
The collection features 38 rings and pendants that bring together patterns, colors and textures by pairing opaque half-moon cabochons divided by a band of gemstones.
And, just as the stones in the first collection instantly told the story of the earth from which they were extracted, so too do the minerals in the new collection present their own world with ties to humanity.
Armonie Minerali is divided into three “chapters,” relating to art, design and music.
A collection of rings from the “Black and White Obsession” chapter
“Black and White Obsession” is inspired by the “stark eloquence” of black and white art, the brand said, exploring the way the restricted color palette allows for its own striking narrative.
For example, Pomellato said the dendritic opal in the Japanese Samurai ring pictured above (second from right) reflects traditional Japanese prints or artist Yayoi Kusama’s paintings, like Infinity Nets.
Chapter Two of the collection is “A Tribute to Color,” the largest of the three chapters and bursting with vivid pops of color.
It is meant to align with the work of architects and designers who shaped the Milanese design
landscape after World War II, including Gio Ponti, Luigi Caccia Dominioni, Vico Magistretti and Aldo Rossi.
Rings from the chapter titled “A Tribute to Color”
The collection tells the story of that revolutionary design movement using hardstones.
For example, the brand translates the colors and forms of Vico Magistretti and Luigi Caccia Dominioni’s furniture into chrysocolla, Paraiba tourmaline and amazonite in its “Bora Bora” ring, pictured above at center.
And last, but not certainly not least, comes chapter three, “Pattern Hypnosis.”
The most abstract of the mini-collections, this group expresses the vibrancy of music by using material with patterns, striations, fractals and soft waves.
The “Madama Butterfly” 18-karat ring in rose gold with calcite, white and gray agate and diamonds
The “Stromboli Ring” uses hawk’s eye and black diamonds in 18-karat gold.
The “Rhapsody in Green” 18-karat gold ring, featuring malachite and emeralds
The “Adagio di Damasco” in 18-karat gold with rhodochrosite and rubies
The jewels draw upon art pieces that capture musical harmonies on canvas. The “Adagio di Damasco” ring pictured in the gallery above uses a rhodochrosite’s concentric pink and white patterns to recall “the hypnotic visual experience of gazing into one of Ugo Rondinone’s Target paintings.”
