There is a particular kind of confidence that comes from knowing exactly who you are, even as the world around you keeps shifting. This is the certainty Buccellati jewelry has always carried: a century of hand-engraved gold, sculpted silver, and jewelry that reads more like miniature architecture than adornment. But confidence in a legacy doesn’t mean standing still. It means knowing precisely which threads to keep pulling forward, generation after generation.
Lucrezia Buccellati is carrying forward a family language of craftsmanship that her great-grandfather began shaping over a hundred years ago. She talks about heritage as something alive: a vocabulary that gets rewritten with each generation’s hand, responsive to how people actually want to live and dress today, while never losing its unmistakable accent. In this conversation, hube’s editor-in-chief asked her about the tension between permanence and immediacy, what jewelry design communicates today that it didn’t decades ago, and the responsibility of creating objects built to outlast their makers.
Sasha Kovaleva: Historically, jewelry was often associated with inheritance, permanence, and long-term value. Younger generations appear to engage with objects differently. Has jewelry become more about self-expression than legacy?
Lucrezia Buccellati: Buccellati’s jewelry is both a legacy, reflected in our distinctive style and craftsmanship, and a form of self-expression. Over the past 15 to 20 years, we have introduced new collections and expanded existing ones, creating pieces that are more versatile and can be styled in many different ways.
SK: Which parts of a legacy should remain untouchable, and which should be challenged?
LB: Our legacy is established by our unique style. While it remains untouched, it evolves with each generation, reflecting the desires of the market at that time. You can clearly see this when you look at the pieces designed by my great-grandfather, Mario, and compare them to those designed by my father and me.
SK: What does jewelry communicate today that it didn’t communicate 30 years ago?
LB: Jewelry is an extension of who we are, reflecting our personality, taste, and style. What has changed is that jewelry now seamlessly transitions from day to night, becoming part of our everyday self-expression.
