Zurich, March 19, 2021 // News Aktuell.- His family's office in Zurich and the Nando and Elsa Peretti Foundation have communicated with great regret the death of Elsa Peretti yesterday for natural causes.The designer, famous for her creations for high -end American jewelry Tiffany, has died at age 80 in a town near Barcelona (Spain).Its legacy includes an exceptional design work and a foundation dedicated to humanitarian, environmental causes and restoration.The absence of this authentic citizen of the world leaves a void in all areas in which he played such an active and creative role.
A pioneer designer
Elsa Peretti was born in Florence and formed in Rome and Switzerland.Later he returned to Rome to study interior design.In 1969, he had already established himself as a model in New York and Barcelona and began to design his own jewels.
American fashion designer Giorgio di Sant'angelo exhibited some of his pieces in a fashion parade, and they were a success.The next day, Elsa was the New York star.At that time he met Halston, legendary American fashion designer and seventy icon who became his lifelong friend and with whom he collaborated on numerous occasions. En 1974, Halston presentó a Elsa a la joyería estadounidense Tiffany & Co., with which he immediately initiated an exclusive collaboration that would last throughout his career.
Elsa was often inspired by everyday objects: a Jewish, a bone or an apparatus became twins, bracelets, vases or lighters;Scorpions and snakes became striking necklaces and rings, often in silver, one of its favorite materials.She herself stated that "there are no new designs, because beautiful lines and shapes are eternal," and in effect their jewels remain as modern and wearable today as then as then.
Elsa Peretti's designs are part of the permanent collections of the British Museum in London (England), the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (Massachusetts) and the Houston Fine Arts Museum (Texas).In recognition of his remarkable work, Tiffany created the Elsa Peretti chair of jewelry design at the Fashion Institute of Technology, (FIT), the first subsidized chair in the history of the institution.Among other distinctions, the designer received in 2001 the honorary title of Doctor in Fine Arts of the FIT.In addition in 1971 he was awarded the Coty American Fashion Critics ’Award for his jewels, and in 1981 he received the President's Fellow Prize from the Rhode Island Design School.In 1996, she was appointed accessory designer of the year by the Fashion Designers Council of America.
Philanthropic activity
Elsa Peretti was known for his ingenious charm, his spirit open to others, his kindness and generosity.With a deep humanitarian vocation, he supported cultural, scientific and educational initiatives, in addition to dedicating himself to the defense of human rights.In 2000, he created a beneficial organization in honor of his father, the Nando and Elsa Peretti Foundation.The Foundation supports numerous projects aimed at promoting human and civil rights, in particular the right to education, the rights of children as well as the rights and dignity of women.The Foundation receives international proposals and has supported initiatives all over the world, among other initiatives in favor of unpublished people and oppressed minorities to defend their right to exist and preserve their culture.In addition, it supports medical and scientific research projects to promote physical and mental health, as well as specific interventions such as the construction of hospitals and other health facilities.He has subsidized public awareness campaigns for the conservation of fauna and environmental protection, and promotes culture and arts.The Nando and Elsa Peretti Foundation has financed more than a thousand non -profit projects in more than 80 countries, with a total investment that exceeds 56 million euros.
Sant Martí Vell, his refuge in Catalonia
The little Catalan town of Sant Martí Vell was always a place that Elsa felt very linked.In 1968, he acquired in this town a mustard yellow house, which he restored with love during the next ten years and was his refuge in the last years of his life.While living abroad he commissioned the restoration of parts of the town, acquired and retained other buildings, including the Church, and supported the excavation of Roman ruins and the historical archive of the people.It also established a vineyard in operation, which since 2008 markets excellent wines from the Eccocivi brand.
Elsa promoted visual articles and encouraged the consolidation, protection and dissemination of the historical, artistic, cultural, architectural and artisanal heritage of Catalonia.In 2013, Elsa Peretti was the first Catalan person awarded with the National Culture Award of the National Culture and Arts Culture (CONCA) (CONCA).
For more information/photographs, contact:
Elsa Peretti Holding Ag
DUFOURSRASSE 90
8008 Zurich
moosmann@elsaperetti.com
Some comments about Elsa Peretti:
«We consider Elsa's work the permanent testimony of the certainty that the great designs transcend fashion, the heart of our business philosophy.It is one of the greatest jewelry designers of the twentieth century and has taken us beyond commercial success to enter the history of design.«It's a halo for the whole brand.[...] Elsa's work has unique elementary and instinctive magnetism.It is a design genius.» - Michael Kowalski, former president and general director of Tiffany and Co., in an interview for How To Spend It.
«Elsa created all those things - the bone bracelet is what I remember best.Everything was so sensual, so sexy.I fascinated me.It was different from everything I had seen so far and had seen a lot.Since then, the only thing I really took are the jewels of #Peretti.» - Liza Minnelli about Elsa in Vanity Fair, August 2014.
«She observes the objects, but not only observes them.It touches them, turns them, behind, ahead, on the sides.To really get to the object that is observing, and that is what it transmits.» - Hiro says about Elsa.
«She was the most unique, most wonderful and most elegant woman she had seen in years.With that male hat and his wonderful way of walking...» - Joe Eula on Elsa in Vogue Italy, 1996
«She does not come from a closed culture, everything is merged.He is not American, neither European, nor Japanese - is Elsa.»Hiro says about Elsa in Elsa Peretti 25 Years Retrospective of 1999.
«In Japan there is a distinction of honor that is granted to extraordinary people.If we were in Japan, as worldwide, Elsa Peretti would receive this distinction.It would be considered a living treasure internationally.I have always felt admiration for Elsa, because it has the strange combination of a very individual elegance, which is even more individual for its simplicity, its kindness and its surprising vision.She is a woman who has contributed to create a new notion of beauty for others.» - Ralph Rucci, fashion designer, Lampoon Magazine, Maggio 2020.
"Elsa contributed a new intensity, a new commitment, a new passion to our design approach".- Mike Kowalski at Elsa Peretti 25 Years Retrospective of 1999.
«Elsa looks at someone's shoes.Look at something in a corner that most people would not notice;She perceives it and affirms: “Look, isn't it beautiful?Look at it, ”you know?He makes you see things.» - Liz Franceschini at Elsa Peretti 25 Years Retrospective of 1999.
«All of us in Tiffany feel a deep loyalty towards Elsa and she has always returned that loyalty.» - William Chaney at Elsa Peretti 25 Years Retrospective of 1999.
