Elsa Peretti

Born in Florence in 1940, Elsa Peretti studied in Rome and Switzerland, then returned to Rome to study interior design. That early path placed her between Italian education and a wider European outlook, before jewellery became her best-known medium.^[1,2]

In 1963 Peretti moved to Milan to work for architect Dado Torrigiani. The next year she went to Barcelona and pursued modelling. The two moves form a brief but telling sequence: her working life crossed cities and disciplines well before her collaboration with Tiffany.^[1,2]

Peretti moved to New York in 1968. In 1969 she showed her first jewellery designs alongside Giorgio di Sant’Angelo’s collection. The setting links her entry into jewellery to the city’s fashion scene and to a public presentation, rather than to a single isolated object.^[1,2]