The pair of earrings standing on a light stone, the two corollas from the front with the garnet at the centre

Collection Fiore d'Inverno·Orecchini

Fiore d'Inverno earrings in blackened bronze with garnet, 18mm corollas

Name: Fiore d'Inverno earrings in blackened bronze with garnet, 18mm corollas
Brand: Anna Gioielli
SKU: OA123bronzgr
Price: 135.0 EUR
Availability: InStock

Eighteen millimeters of bronze corolla, with a dark red garnet at the center

€135,00 OA123bronzgr

Drawn and built by hand at the bench, in Tosi.

Two bronze corollas eighteen millimeters across, each drawn from a single sheet and hollowed into a shallow cup. The rim has been left wavy, different from one flower to the other, and there the metal is left polished: it makes a bright ring all the way round. Inside the cup the ground is sandblasted and blackened, and against the black the grooves running out from the center pick up the light one by one. At the center of each, in a plain bezel, a round faceted garnet of a dark red: it is the only colored thing on the earring. The leverback hook stays open behind the lobe.

Eight grams thirty of bronze, and twenty-four millimeters of length per earring, corolla included: the flower stays against the lobe instead of swinging. In the Fiore d'Inverno collection the corollas are silver; here the metal is bronze, and at the bench it does not behave the same way — it is harder, it work-hardens sooner under the blow that hollows it, and in the air it goes on darkening by itself. The black of the ground is not that, though: it is put on deliberately over the whole cup, and then only the rim is polished back, so that the red of the stone has something to lift off. On two pieces worn together the same hand has to stop at the same point twice. Presentation box included.

The material

Weights and carats as the workshop declares them.

8,30 gramsBronze

Metals: Bronze
Finish: Sandblasted and blackened inside, polished rim
Dimensions: Flower diameter about 18 mm · earring length about 24 mm
Clasp: Open leverback
Technique: All made by hand.

The stones

Garnet

At the center of each flower

Cut: Round faceted
Size: Flower about 18 mm
Note: Two natural stones

The two earrings resting on the stone, shot in three-quarter view with the hooks in view

The back of the two corollas, the bronze left irregular and darkened

One earring standing on its ear wire, the other turned back to front

The pair hanging from light branches, front view of the two corollas

The two flowers side by side on the branches, with the grooves running from the centre

Close-up: the polished rim, the blackened ground and the bezel of the garnet

The earring worn, the corolla resting on the lobe

How it is made

The words of the trade, one by one, explained to those who do not know them.

Corolla from a single sheet: The corolla is not an assembly of petals: it is a single sheet, hollowed into a shallow cup and left irregular at the rim, with the folds running out from the center. The wavy rim is not corrected twice — silver once stretched does not come back — so the first fold is the one that stays. In the middle of the cup is the one point that has to stay flat: it is the seat of the stone, and if the cup has moved there the setting will not sit.
Bronze: Bronze is copper with some tin: it is not a precious metal and has no fineness to declare, but at the bench it is harder than silver and forgives far less. A sheet of bronze drawn into a cup work-hardens quickly — it has to be annealed and taken up again rather than forced in one go — and under the flame the copper oxidizes before anything else, covering itself in a black scale which, if it is sealed inside a joint, will stop the solder holding. Then bronze goes on moving even after the piece is finished: in the air it turns towards brown, and the brightness of the polished rim warms over the years. The color you see today is a starting point, not a fixed state, and it is brought back with a cloth, not by remaking the piece.
Sandblasting: A jet of very fine sand takes the shine off the metal and makes it velvety to the touch. Here it is used on the inside, against the rim left polished.
Garnet: Garnet is not a single stone: it is a family of minerals that all crystallize the same way, and the red is made by iron. Where the iron is plentiful the color closes up and in transmission tends towards brown; where there is less of it, it opens and turns towards pink. The lattice is cubic, and light crosses it the same way from any direction: the color cannot be corrected by orienting the stone on the lap, as it can with amethyst. All you choose is the thickness, and there the margin is short — a little too much and the stone goes dead, a little too little and it empties out. At between seven and seven and a half in hardness it is worn every day, and it is one of the few materials at the bench that arrives as it was born, with no firing and no treatment; but a sudden change of heat cracks it, and that is why the setting is closed cold and the flame stays away from the seat.
Leverback fastening: The hook passes behind the lobe and closes on itself. It goes on in one movement, has no screws to lose and carries the weight without pulling.

I don't look at what others are doing: I would rather create in my own style. That is what makes our jewelry recognizable.
Fabio Gori — Anna Gioielli, Tosi

Made for you

Every piece leaves the bench made to order: sizes and details are agreed before the work begins.

The goldsmith's workshop is also the place where made-to-measure jewellery is created and family pieces are restored: if you have an idea, or something you want brought back to how it was, that is where it starts.

Ask for a made-to-measure piece

Made by

Anna Gioielli

A goldsmith's workshop in Tosi, on the slopes of the Pratomagno: Anna opened it in 1988, her sons Fabio and Francesco carry it on. Piercing, repoussé, chasing and burin engraving — the Florentine school, with the workshop in full view of the shop.

All the creations by Anna Gioielli