“My love for bones has nothing macabre about it,” says jewellery designer Elsa Peretti. “As a child, I kept on visiting the cemetery of a 17th-century Capuchin church with my nanny. All the rooms were decorated with human bones. My motherhad to send me back, time and again, with a stolen bone in my little purse. Things that are forbidden remain with you forever.”
Peretti, who joined Tiffany & Co. in 1974, designs with the woman in mind and the belief that jewellery should be equally captivating and comfortable to wear. Her groundbreaking bone cuff design was introduced in the 1970s at the height of feminism and the pursuit of greater equal rights. Powerfully feminine with an effortless ease, the timeless bone cuff is a design innovation that’s been revered by women since it was first introduced.
Elsa Peretti® small Bone cuff in green, red and blue finish over copper with “special edition” inscription, 43mm, $660
Elsa Peretti® small Bone cuff in sterling silver with black jade, $3,750 Elsa Peretti® small Bone cuff in sterling silver with turquoise, $10,400 Elsa Peretti® small Bone cuff in 18k gold with green jade, $24,900
To honor the 50th anniversary of this timeless design icon, the bone cuff is reimagined in special edition colors and new carved stone styles. Peretti’s designs have changed the notion of jewellery as simply adornment, subverting how it is worn while empowering women.
Elsa Peretti at her worktable in New York City in the 1970s.
