Since the inception of her eponymous brand in 2007, Delfina Delettrez Fendi has developed a signature perspective using a wide material vocabulary, manifested in her original use of figurative surrealism and natural iconography including hands, eyes, bees, and lips. These adorn different parts of the anatomy, in a continuous game of echoes.
Delettrez’s latest work explores a more conceptual sense of the surreal: instead of adding, she now subtracts, viewing precious stones as self- sufficient in themselves and creating ‘phantom settings’ which give the illusion of fine jewels floating around the body. The unique aesthetic of Delettrez’s work comes from the marriage of classical goldsmith techniques with innovative contemporary materials, progressing traditional Italian craftsmanship to create modern, futuristic jewels. Her kinetic pieces – tourbillon bracelets and rings with spinning concentric layers of precious metal, or expandable hinged bracelets named “Detaille Unique” – utilise the excellence of traditional Italian handicraft, mixing it with postmodern inspirations, the pieces a fusion of past and future. Delettrez’s designs are hyper-modern, but still hand-made in her Roman atelier. She has one store in Rome, located on via del Governo Vecchio.
Delfina Delettrez Fendi is the youngest designer included in the permanent collection of fine jewellery at the Louvre’s Musée des Arts Decoratifs; her work has been part of the museum since October 2010. In June 2012, gallery Antonella Villanova featured a solo exhibition in Florence entitled “Delphinarium”, a comprehensive look at Delettrez’ path as a jeweller.
In 2014 she created a short film to launch her “Gold Vein” collection. The film charts an imaginary, temporal journey beyond space and time to create a surreal vision of another world.

Photo: Courtesy of Delfina Delettrez