Elsa Peretti was a well-known fashion model in Italy. But she turned into an iconic jewelry designer and died at the age of 80. She became known for her signature cuff bracelet and for making silver popular again during her long tenure at Tiffany & Co. She revolutionized the industry with her biomorphic designs inspired by bone fragments and pebbles.
She was working as a model in New York when she decided to try her hand at jewellery making. She was inspired by a piece she spotted at a flea market, which was an unexpected success. So she joined Tiffany in 1974 and went on to design pieces for a number of celebrities. Liza Minnell, Diana Ross, tennis champion Maria Sharapova and Kate Middleton are some of them.
Peretti was also a model of the elegant, liberated professional woman of the 1970s. When her first collection for Tiffany was released in 1974, Vogue wrote that «just then, what had been a cult for a few exploded into a national passion. Suddenly everyone was collecting Peretti. From New York to California, wherever there's a Tiffany's, there are lines.».
Peretti's designs accounted for up to 10% of Tiffany's sales some years, according to Vogue magazine. In 2012, Tiffany paid the designer a one-time fee of more than $47 million. Tiffany said in a statement that «we are deeply saddened by the death of Elsa Peretti, a renowned jewelry designer for the house and a member of the Tiffany family since 1974. «A larger than life woman, she touched everyone at Tiffany & Co. The relationships she created defined her. Ultimately, Elsa was not only a designer but a way of life.».
