Buccellati opens its most precious boutique in Milan

Leaving Venice last June, the exhibition "The Prince of Goldsmiths", the most important ever realised by Buccellati to tell its ultra-secular history, is about to begin a world tour that will take it to Asia, the Middle East and the United States. The event was a milestone for the Milanese house, which is preparing to close the year 2024 with another important novelty that well expresses its growth and evolution. Last Wednesday, in fact, the new space was officially inaugurated in Milan that completes and enriches the jewellery and silverware boutiques already present in the 19th-century Palazzo Gavazzi, in Via Montenapoleone 23, a space created in the building's Piano Nobile and renovated, after about a year of work, by interior designer Chahan Minassian in collaboration with Studio Quadrilatero of Milan.

"We thought of it as a salon, a convivial space, where we receive our customers and offer them a journey through our history," explains Andrea Buccellati. Grandson of the founder Mario, son of Gianmaria, president and creative director of the family maison together with his daughter Lucrezia, he explains that "today in luxury, there is an increasing attempt to create experiences, going beyond mere sales, in order to satisfy customers who are increasingly knowledgeable and interested in the philosophy of a company and its products. It is a trend that we find especially in Chinese customers: to them and to everyone else we want to offer the opportunity to get to know us closely'.

These special guests can access the Piano Nobile by prior reservation and through a reserved entrance in the palace courtyard. Under frescoed vaults and amidst mosaic floors, in the palace where patriot (and goldsmith Melchiorre's son) Carlo Cattaneo also lived, every piece of furniture and lighting has been custom-designed by Minassian's studio, embellished with Venetian fabrics by Bevilacqua, Fortuny and Rubelli. Buccellati's vintage showcases hold the jewels of the maison, from historical pieces from the private collection (some of which are for sale) to the most recent creations. "There will also be important presences from our archives (the company's historical records were restored just this year, this year), such as drawings and plaster casts," adds Buccellati. "We will organise dedicated events, and to make the experience even more intense and authentic, our master craftsmen will be present to show our special processes and follow the path of a piece of jewellery from conception to realisation.

For Buccellati, this rich 2024 also marked the debut on a cruise ship, with the opening of the first 'sea' boutique on board the Explora II, part of the Msc group's high-end fleet. An experiment that takes up, albeit evolved, the formula of Buccellati's presence in hotels and resorts: "We were among the first to open a shop in Cala di Volpe, on the Costa Smeralda, at the end of the Sixties, a project that helped us to make ourselves known and appreciated," Buccellati recalls. "Today, the clientele of this type of destination has changed. In our boutique in Capri, where 80% of customers are foreigners, more than half travel on board their private yachts'.

Although jewellery purchases are being affected by the general slowdown in the luxury sector - as evidenced by the 5% drop in the first nine months of the year in Lvmh's Watches &Jewelry division - the maisons of the Richemont group, to which Buccellati belongs together with Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels and Vhernier, recorded a 4% increase in sales at constant rates in the first three months of the 24-25 financial year, amounting to 3.6 billion euros. Just today the Swiss group presents the figures for the first half of the year.