“Many of you already know us personally, others have only known us online, but it is to all of you that we dedicate this page.”
I am Tommaso Pestelli and, with my wife Eva Aulmann, I continue the family goldsmith tradition, which has been based in the heart of the historic center of Florence since 1908.
I am Florentine by birth and have always lived my city very intensely.
Since I was a child, my father took me to visit the great Medici collections and the historic Florentine palaces in his free time, but when he was at work I spent most of my time in the back room, playing with the multitude of models, jewels and prototypes with neo-Renaissance and extravagant shapes, inspired by the treasures of my city.
Values that have certainly had a weight in forming my artistic sensibility.
As in the best Florentine artisan tradition, I began to learn the rudiments of the trade from one of the best goldsmith masters, Tonino Batacchi, but at the same time I was pursuing my studies, first in sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts, where I met Eva Aulmann – today an established artist in the world of graphic art (www.bellearti.de)- and then at the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, where I studied and practiced the restoration of goldsmiths and ancient glyptics.
The world of restoration has allowed me to deal with true goldsmith masterpieces – the highest and most exclusive expression of the art and craftsmanship of the past – and to learn technical experiences and stylistic refinements lost for centuries. In each work I have always found the manual ability of the goldsmith to juggle the most diverse materials and forms, such as copper, bronze, semi-precious stones, precious stones, wood and glass, even in large objects united with harmony and refinement. Quality that I strongly wanted to make my own using them in my original creations.
Many of you often ask us: “How do you make your creations?“
The first step is always to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of a new project and a natural material. The choice of stones is always aimed at the search for the element of natural quality, not excessively perfect, because perfection does not exist, or the perfect element often has nothing to say or evoke and remains cold.
The carved stone, as well as a natural element such as shells or coconuts, always present unique characteristics of nature and shape, which must be followed, respected and not distorted. The natural vibration of matter arouses emotions in the viewer.
This assessment is a starting point and a comparison with my wife Eva. She is certainly the other side of the scale, without her nothing would be as it is. Eva is my most sincere critic and my most valid collaborator and inspirer. New models and ideas always come from her.
I consider an object uccessful when I manage to balance the natural element, that is the beautiful shape of a stone, the beautiful color, the beautiful transparencies with the artifice element I have shaped, neither of them must prevail over the other: the more beautiful things are in balance.
Designing and creating art objects from nothing, with your own hands, using a lot of time and energy, in a world that runs faster and faster, may seem an anachronistic choice to many.
But our belief is precisely this: to realize the “Beautiful” in every single creation and satisfy our customers in their most personal and imaginative desires.
Read the history of Pestelli Creazioni jewelery or visit our online store…
