During the opening days of the Venice Architecture Biennale, Bulgari has produced an exceptional brand event to present Mediterranea, its latest collection of fine jewelry.
The project involves some of the most important creative forces of the city: Venini, a producer of artistic excellence founded in 1921 by the Milanese lawyer Paolo Venini and the Venetian antiquarian Giacomo Cappellin; Rubelli, a firm opened in 1858, with one of the world’s most remarkable textile archives; and Orsoni, the historic producer of mosaics, and the only one with a production site in the city, in the district of Cannaregio.
The setting for the exhibition-event was Palazzo Soranzo Van Axel: built at the end of the 15th century by the Venetian Soranzo family, in the 17th century it was purchased by a Dutch family, the Van Axels, who enhanced the extraordinary building – 3800 square meters – with frescos and bas-reliefs.
In this location, Bulgari created various spaces, embodying the distinctive ethic of the three worlds that coexist in the Mediterranea collection, each associated with a specific palette of colors.
Representing the magical craft of glassmaking, Venini, with its artistic director Marco Piva, contributed a dramatic modular sculpture inspired by the iconic Tazebao suspension lamp (1986) designed by Ludovico Diaz de Santillana. In Piva’s project light becomes three-dimensional, taking on volume in a temporary architectural tableau, utilized to display the very colorful creations of Southern Radiance, one of the themes of the collection.
A site-specific project around the theme of water, one of the main leitmotifs of the Bulgari collection presented in Venice. Playing with tones from transparency to aquamarine, the glass pieces gave rise to a powerful, theatrical stratification, suggesting the encounter between sky and sea, but also the intertwining of creative excellence, of cultures and ideas, which has always been part of the history of Venice.
Relying on a heritage of craftsmanship and cultural passed down from one generation to the next, the Venini glassworks has a peerless palette of hues. It is the only glassmaker cable of producing 125 colors, the result of long-term passionate formulation, in search of new combinations. The production structure is organized to work with 14 ovens active at the same time, the only one of its kind in Venice. The company can offer artists and master glassmakers a unique chromatic range, as a true worldwide exclusive.
Rubelli, in collaboration with the studio Formafantasma, for the East Meets West theme has created an eclectic setting made of panels suggesting the Pillars of Hercules, taken as a symbol of Bulgari’s desire to explore new territories. While Orsoni, in a project by the duo Zanellato/Bortotto, created a column-display for the creations of the Serpenti family, featuring decoration that resembles the scales of the animal-icon of Bulgari.
The installation also featured the collaboration of the Italian visual artist Giuseppe Lo Schiavo, with digital images ready to be explored in 3D. While the renowned parfumeuse Sophie Labbé has created a Mediterranean fragrance for Bulgari Parfums.
