The jewelry goods made by SICIS, an Italian company, which made its first appearance at Baselworld 2012, attracted the attention of visitors for an obvious reason.
The world-famous house of artistic mosaic, which launched a jewelry line three years ago, is creating jewelry from the traditional Italian micro mosaic combined with precious stones, including diamonds among other things.
Rough&Polished met with Maurizio Leo Placuzzi, the founder and President of SICIS, who answered our questions.
You produced quite an impression at Baselworld 2012, something which isn’t the case with every newcomer...
We started the first day as a “beginner” and in the next days of the fair we have been acclaimed as “grandeur in the tiniest of things” bringing fresh air to the jewelry industry. We’ve been in this business for three years and this year we decided to demonstrate our capabilities.
How did it happen that a well-known construction company decided to establish a jewelry business?
SICIS Jewels is a very long standing project. We have the ability, ideas, creativity, production and finance to climb to the peak of the jewelry industry.
We live in Ravenna, which after the split-up of the Roman Empire became the capital of the Western Roman Empire, so we have a lot of basilicas and gilded floor mosaics. There are roots to draw on.
We produce the best artistic mosaic decorating the most beautiful houses and hotels around the world, including such cities as Las Vegas and Dubai. Micro mosaic jewelry came into being in the 17th and 18th centuries. Queens, kings and VIPs enjoyed micro mosaic jewelry. Marie Louise of Austria, Paolina Bonaparte, Carolina Bonaparte and Catherine II of Russia were few of the many. In the course of centuries the art of micro mosaic jewelry disappeared and no contemporary artists had the ability and skill to develop this art of jewelry. SICIS rose to this challenge and after years of research, trials, considerable expenditures, moments of high optimism followed by disillusionment, the agony of countless unsleeping nights we finally achieved success. However, this is the first step, our new collection, and we hope that very soon more collections will be launched.
How did you come across such a brilliant in every sense idea to combine precious stones and micro mosaic in jewelry?
I started to look after micro mosaic vintage jewelry 25 years ago for my private and personal pleasure. I had no idea and no plan to think about production at that time. It was hard to find micro mosaic jewelry and, besides, one famous guy, Gianni Versace, was anticipating my visits to antique stores buying what was available. Thus I decided to discontinue my collection and gave up the idea to be a big collector of micro mosaic vintage jewelry. Then, three years ago, when I was looking for a new challenge, I remembered my old dream and started this venture.
What do you think about diamonds?
I think that diamonds are the best partner for developing micro mosaic jewelry, but as a supplement. We often use micro mosaic not only made of smalt, but also of gold - white, yellow or pink. SICIS manufactures a lot of goods made of gold – this is, so to say, the company’s philosophy. These are precious materials, and we decided to add diamonds, sapphires, tourmalines, rubies. Just for contrast. Micro mosaic offers a broad opportunity for color. Natural gems also have a wide color gamut, but not the same as in micro mosaic, which can achieve any shade of color. And it might be of interest for jewelers, as they can work with new color hues. In addition, gems give some prominence to micro mosaic, and together with diamonds it is an interesting new combination.
And where are you buying diamonds from?
Frankly, I do not know: I have managers who buy precious stones and diamonds on the market. But all diamonds are certified, with an indication of clarity and color. We decided that a combination of diamonds, pearls and other stones is an innovative way because before us no one followed it. Diamonds are bought already cut, and our jewelers and mosaic craftsmen glue micro mosaic elements and fix diamonds.
What of your jewelry is most sought after?
Our collection of butterflies. We produce them in small and large shapes, with diamonds and other stones, in any color scale. Without doubt, this is the most successful collection. It includes pendents, brooches, earrings and cufflinks.
We have a collection called “Diamond Tree” which is made after the Tree of Life by Klimt, a symbol of ascent and inspiration. To enrich the tree of life we decorated its branches with diamonds to make life richer, more beautiful and more brilliant. There is a collection of «yeux felins» (“cat's eyes”), where we use black diamonds.
What are your plans for the future?
Basel was our first international exhibition after three years of work and the next will be in Las Vegas. In June, we opened our first jewelry store in Paris (Rue Francois Premier, 41), followed by another in New York's Soho in September, then in Tokyo, and pretty soon, I hope we will have stores all over the world, including Hong Kong and Dubai. I would like to open a new jewelry store in Moscow.
You have been working as jewelers for three years and now you are expanding more and more. Don’t you feel the crisis?
We have a big factory in Ravenna, where we employ 400 workers. We've just hired new people we are not going to cut our production. We make high-end jewelry and mosaic products, this is our niche. Of course, the crisis is felt everywhere, in Italy, too, but we sell a lot overseas - to China, Japan, the United States. Ten years ago, the Japanese market was the best for us, and then we began to develop the American market. When the U.S. market was hit by crisis, there emerged the Chinese market and then the Indian market as well. But we like to work in Italy, because a lot of people love what is made in Italy, and we produce everything in Italy, not in China or India, because our roots are here.
Galina Semyonova, Rough&Polished, Basel, Switzerland
