Gem Generation
Born to an Italian family of true artists, Davide Staurino shares with Maina A. Harjani the history and heritage of classic jeweller Staurino Fratelli 103
taurino fratelli is one of the world’s most exclusive jewellery makers. Proudly family run and focusing on hand-crafted masterpieces, its story began when Natale Staurino opened his first atelier in Valenza, Italy—itself already known as the home of some of the finest craftsmen and artisans— in the 1900s. Always remaining true to its roots of quality and craftsmanship, the company’s legacy passed to Staurino’s son and then onto his grandson and then his great-grandson, Davide, who was taught the art of designing by his father, now 85 years old but still very active in the workshop. With Staurino Fratelli one of the few Italian jewellery houses that, by choice, has no standalone boutiques, it was a rare treat for Indonesia Tatler to catch up with Davide on a visit to The Carat Gallery in Jakarta and to view his collection. Tell us a little bit about how Staurino Fratelli came about and how you got involved. It’s simply in my blood. It’s a long story as to how it started, because my great-grandfather started making jewellery 120 years ago in Valenza, Italy. He started out with a small workshop despite being closely located to many other jewellers in the area. Eventually my grandfather, father and uncle joined him, and together they made the company what it is today. My brother and I have since taken over, so we can say its always been in our blood.
With so many fine jewellers located in the same place in Italy, how do you maintain your exclusivity? Our heritage, coupled with looking into design innovations, always sparks up a lot of ideas, so over the years, we’ve created our own style. It’s not something that happened overnight: it’s a combination of inherited skill and training as well as market research, all of which have allowed us to get quite specific as to what we like and what differentiates our designs and jewellery from others.
How would you define that distinction? What makes Staurino Fratelli special? Well, it isn’t just about the materials, although we tend to use only precious stones, as well as 18-carat gold and platinum. It’s also about our history, the research we undertake, the designs themselves, and the way we have advanced our technological capabilities. We are on a continuous mission of trying new ways to make and wear jewellery. So as much as we can, we try to design jewellery that is in a class of its own.
From where do you source your diamonds and precious stones? The diamonds come from Antwerp and many of the stones come from Southeast Asia. The emeralds come from Colombia or from Brazil, and the rubies from Burma.
Being something of a globe-trotter whose products are distributed in two major continents, do you see any differences or similarities between the markets in Europe and in Asia? I have been working now for almost 25 years in this industry and have seen a great amount of changes in people’s preferences. In the past, taste used to be differentiated based on specific areas and regions, but more recently, people’s tastes are more neutral. The simple reason for this is that everyone travels much more now and everyone is exposed to, influenced by, and bombarded with information through the web and social media.