An intimate conversation on family, craft, and the future of heritage jewelry with Lucrezia Buccellati.
As the fourth generation of the Roman high jewelry and silverware Maison, Lucrezia Buccellati works closely with her father, Honorary President & Creative Director Andrea Buccellati, and the creative team, navigating the space between inheritance and authorship. Her sensibility is contemporary but precise, guided by instinct, technique, and an ongoing dialogue with the Maison’s codes—less about preservation, more about translation. Her presence marks a quiet shift—one rooted in instinct, technique, and an ongoing dialogue with the Buccellati’s codes. It’s less about preservation, more about translation.
Speaking to new generations, for her, is not about reinvention for its own sake, but about keeping the language alive. She moves easily between abstraction and tradition, treating craft as motion rather than a fixed idea. There’s emotion in her approach, but also discipline: an understanding that evolution only works when it’s anchored.
In Shanghai, the atmosphere mirrors that evolution. The exhibition doesn’t announce itself loudly; it unfolds. Not a retrospective, but something closer to a conversation across time—gold, silver, and light carrying gestures from one generation to the next. Family shines quietly at the center.
We sat down with Lucrezia Buccellati to talk about butterflies, intuition, and how you carry a legacy forward without letting it harden.
١. What does bringing this exhibition to Shanghai mean to you today?
It’s deeply meaningful. The exhibition traces the evolution of style, how each generation has seen Buccellati through its own lens. You sense the gaze of my great-grandfather, my grandfather Gianmaria, my father, and now mine. Having the third and fourth generations working side by side is rare, and emotional.
While design formally sits with my father as Creative Director, and me as a continuation, the process is truly collective. There’s a constant exchange of ideas, feedback, and intuition—and that dialogue lives within the pieces.
Bringing it to Shanghai feels symbolic. Nearly eleven years after opening our first store in China, it marks a new chapter in our Asian journey. From Venice to China, we’re engaging with different cultures and ways of seeing. What’s striking here is the deep respect for craftsmanship and heritage from the local community — a genuine connection to what we do.
٢. Is there a part of the exhibition that feels especially personal to you?
From the moment you enter, you’re stepping into the Buccellati universe. The first room — the Buccellati Generations — is particularly special. Traditionally, the “master room” would come at the end, but here it opens the journey.
You see four butterflies, each representing a generation. My great‑grandfather’s is very realistic. My grandfather’s leans baroque. My father’s remains grounded in realism, but softer, more organic. And then there’s the last one designed by me in collaboration with my father.
We wanted it to feel abstract — almost from a fantasy world. When we were asked to design a butterfly representing all four generations, we knew it had to break away. I tend to think out of the box; I like opposition, tension. So this butterfly is intentionally different. Even the central diamonds — bold, precious — mark something new.
٣. Was there a moment in the exhibition that surprised you emotionally?
Yes. The room where my grandfather’s voice plays. I hadn’t experienced it like this in Venice. I remember thinking, I know that voice — and then realizing it was him, speaking about the family, the business, the passing of generations. That moment stayed with me. As you move forward, you see past pieces, future pieces — everything is connected. You can trace inspiration across time. And then, in the final room, you’re surrounded by jewelry: pieces I know & pieces I’m seeing for the first time. It’s a powerful ending.
And of course, the artisans. Watching them work — the patience, the precision. It takes five to ten years to master those gestures. My father knows exactly which hands belong to which technique. That relationship between design and artisan is everything.
٤. What is it like designing as a family? How does collaboration really work?
Inspiration constantly shifts. It depends on what we’re creating. The first collection I worked on was Blossoms Silver — designed to speak to a younger generation. At the time, Buccellati was perceived as very classical, almost inherited jewelry. We wanted to refresh that perception. Blossoms became about wearability, playfulness, mixing generations. Suddenly, longtime clients were pairing inherited pieces with new designs. It created a dialogue between past and present.
Then came Romanza, our engagement ring collection. That was deeply emotional. Engagement rings are often anonymous — we wanted each one to have a character. We named them after iconic women from literature, each with a distinct personality. Clients would come in and instantly recognise their ring — or their future partner’s.
٥. When starting a new piece, what comes first — technique, inspiration, intuition?
It depends. For the butterfly, it was technique. I wanted to evolve our honeycomb open‑work. Each butterfly in the exhibition uses a different technique, so the one that I’ve designed with my father had to push that evolution.
Other collections begin with art — Impressionist paintings, nature, light. Blossoms was rooted in nature, but also constraint: silver doesn’t allow the same techniques as gold. So we had to reinterpret our DNA differently.
Sometimes it’s intuitive. I see the design fully formed in my head — it comes like a flash. Then we sketch it, and from there my father and I refine the composition until it becomes truly Buccellati.
٦. What do you hope visitors take away from this exhibition?
Connection. I want them to feel close to the family — to understand that Buccellati isn’t just a brand, it’s emotion, memory, continuity. The DNA is in every piece. That’s also why I started Buccellati Talks on social media — to open our world in an informal way. To show how things are made, the stories behind them. This exhibition does the same thing, but physically. I hope visitors leave feeling like they’re part of the family.
In Shanghai, Buccellati doesn’t present history as something fixed behind glass. It breathes. It moves. It listens. And like the butterfly at its centre, it reminds us that transformation — when rooted in craft — is the truest form of continuity.
What emerges is not nostalgia, but momentum. Buccellati’s story continues to unfold through hands, voices, and evolving forms — carried forward by a generation that understands that heritage only survives when it is lived, not preserved. In Lucrezia Buccellati’s world, legacy is not a weight. It’s a flight.
The exhibition runs at the Shanghai Exhibition Center until January 5, 2026. If you’re in the city, it’s not to be missed.
