Francesca Villa has a special gift for creating jewelry out of found objects, pieces that might never get their day in the sun otherwise. The items utilized in her designs have truly hit the jackpot—they’re imaginative, chic, and endlessly covetable.
Last April I shared on JCK her Garden of Eden collection, a sweetly feminine line of floral jewels with major vintage appeal, designed around 1950s German flower resins. Fantasia, one of the new collections the Italy-founded brand debuted at Couture this year, feels completely different—and yet there’s so much that is the same.
Imagine a painting come to life, its characters jumping off the page into three-dimensional realness, bringing joy and color to more of the world. That’s what Fantasia is in a way—a live-action version of the brand’s Close Encounters collections, originally made with reverse intaglio crystals.
“Working in titanium and enamel with gold and gemstone details allowed us to bring the characters to life in three dimensions—a technically demanding feat for our atelier team,” it reads in notes on the collection. “Each character is created with great attention, ensuring they feel truly alive and that they are faithful to their original depictions.”
You’ll find a cast of delightfully colorful characters: the puffer fish, the crab, a mermaid, a dancing sea horse or ladybug, and many more. There are pendants crafted with miniature Mexican nichos—intricately decorative boxes that serve as a home, or a shrine, to the animals. The characters top rings accented with enamel and featuring twisted gold bands, an exotic style fit for such icons. Each piece is fun, no doubt, but because it’s Francesca Villa, there’s an artistry that also reads as immensely fine jewelry.
It’s impossible to select a favorite, but there’s just something about the whale hoops (pictured at top) that tickles my fancy. Appearing to jump straight out of a storybook, the sculpted enamel and titanium whales, both outfitted with a carefree expression, appear to coast on a wave of 18k yellow gold hoops. A splash of iolite, dangling in charm form off the whales’ tails, serves as a function of moving water, while bezel-set round iolite at the earrings’ front arc adds a punch of color and refinement.
Nautical jewelry may be what’s in this summer, but Villa’s whales transcend any trend or season, a forever fairy tale brought to life in precious materials.
Top: Whale hoop earrings in 18k yellow gold and titanium with enamel and 0.53 ct. t.w. iolite, $4,660; Francesca Villa