“Superstones – Jewellery from the Heart of the Earth” Giovanni Raspini's Creativity Expressed Through the Use of Natural Stones and Minerals

Fonderia Napoleonica Eugenia showcased Giovanni Raspini’s new exhibition, Superstones – Jewellery from the Heart of the Earth, a new creative project designed and curated by Giovanni Raspini, the Italian jewellery brand made in the heart of Tuscany. Superstones began as a stylistic and conceptual challenge: to seek the beauty of masterpieces in the uncommon; focusing its attention on using minerals and stones, instead of precious gems traditionally used in jewellery. In this way, the designer has opened new spatial vision and possibilities in the creation of new jewellery designs. Giovanni Raspini has provoked a divisive controversy with this exhibition: on the one hand, there are no conventional gems or precious stones; on the other, the exhibition has quintessentially featured all natural stones and minerals with diversified provenance.

The exhibition unveils thirty one-of-a-kind pieces and proudly stands out for its audacity and innovation; from large necklaces to striking rings, bracelets and the tiara, each piece is designed to magnify the minerals' beauty and distinct character. With Superstones, the Tuscan designer has unfolded the artistic potential of the stones he has carefully chosen for his creations. He has excelled in understanding and expounding their beauty, uniqueness, scientific value and emotional power, never neglecting the intrinsic patterns concealed within each jewel in continuous harmony between lost-wax casting and embellishments. This commitment is the result of extensive creative energies and collective visions of talented craftsmen and researchers, sapiently guided by the master himself, Giovanni Raspini.

Giovanni Raspini revealed,

“I'd been thinking about Superstones for a long time. I had the crazy idea of using minerals and stones instead of the usual gemstones to make my creations unique. Luminous crystals and rare stones, minerals in incredible colours, shapes and sizes. Mainly stones that most people aren't familiar with, but also corals and baroque pearls. And so I slipped into a fascinating and mysterious world, the starting point for these radically unconventional jewellery pieces in terms of style, richness and size. “Superstones is a major challenge,

“The decoration and structure of each piece itself is in perfect stylistic harmony with the stones used, which mutate into veritable narrative fragments in their own right. With great passion, we researched the minerals’ world, and discovered many beautiful, rare and fascinating minerals. Yes, as with our brand's other exhibitions, Superstones will also be a massive collective project. I'm heading it, but with the precious help of a team of highly capable collaborators who contributed their great intellectual and artistic acumen”.

For Superstones, Giovanni Raspini chose to work with professionals and experts in the field. After working with the University of Florence, Giovanni forged a successful collaboration with Professor Giovanni Pratesi, an internationally renowned geologist and scientific educator, formerly a curator of the prestigious mineral collections housed at the Natural History Museum in Florence.

Among the many jewels on display, we should mention the Stone Reef necklace, where the dialogue between the Madrepores of the coral reef modelled in bronze and the stones that are born in the bowels of the Earth is truly compelling, thanks also to the beauty and rarity of the minerals used; the Parrot necklace, with the fluttering birds covered in coloured enamels, the immense tropical leaves in gilded bronze, but especially the great malachite, a very intense green mineral whose shape and colour recalls the deep, beating heart of the Amazon rainforest; the Deep Blue ring embellished with an intense azurite,where delicate gilded silver dolphins jump and chase each other; the sumptuous and imposing Dragon bracelet, whose fantasy inspiration is expressed in the strength of the metal and the claws that seem almost to envelop and control the human wrist, while a fragment of orange-rusty quartz is set behind the head of the monster; the Bubble necklace in a precious violet chalcedony, with spherical bubbles made of white bronze and some bright baroque pearls... A work of creation and research that is steadily reflected in the very soul of the Tuscan brand, influencing and providing inspirations to new ranges.

The Superstones exhibition is the most recent of the many initiatives and events that the brand has dedicated to the goldsmithing art over the years, from Wild – Signs and Animalier Jewellery to Vanitas Mundi, Jewellery from a Wunderkammer and Around the World in Eighty Jewels. Themes seemingly different from each other but united by the same creative and ingenious soul that distinguishes Giovanni Raspini's entire creative and professional career.

After the inauguration in Milan, the exhibition will be open with free admission for ten days, again at the Fonderia Napoleonica, from 24 May to 2 June. It will then move to Rome, at the Coffee House at Palazzo Colonna, from 7 to 9 June. Finally, in its broad coverage of Italy, Superstones will land in Sicily, in Catania, at Palazzo Biscari, with an exhibition open to the public from 28 to 30 June.

To support the project, a book with original texts and photographs was published by Edizioni Edifir in Florence, which offers an in-depth explanation at the inspiration and the Superstones creative process.