Bruni, Pasquale
Pasquale Bruni is an Italian goldsmith, born in Aiello Calabro in 1952, who emigrated to the North of Italy and then became worldwide famous.
The beginning
At 13, when his parents had to emigrate to Vancouver, he and his brother decided to stay in Italy and moved to Valenza, whose district was famous because of his gold tradition: there they enrolled in a gold school and began working in the workshops in the area. Then, in 1968, they opened their own workshop.
In 1976 he decided to enlarge his business and he founded Gioielmoda, which allowed him to create a line of jewelry with a great distribution; his brother preferred to keep a relaxed life, so he leaded the company on his own.
Some years later, he exhibited his jewels in jewelries at Imperial Hotel, in Tokyo, and at Rockefeller Center, in New York: the huge success obtained made him enlarge his business one more time. In 1997 Gioielmoda changed its name and became Pasquale Bruni S.p.A.: the advertising campaign, realized by Arturo Testa, and the consequent expansion on Italian market made some VIPs know the brand and allowed the goldsmith to repeat the foreign success.
A family conduction
In 2002 the Milan monobrand shop, since 1994 in via della Spiga, was renovated: its project was assigned to the David Chipperfield Architects studio. Then, in 2005, the brand inaugurated a new factory, where the most modern technologies flanked the handmade tradition. Nowadays the company is leaded by its founder and his children: Alessandro is the CEO and Daniele the gemologist of the maison, while Eugenia, creative soul of the brand, manages the Creative Direction. The success of the company is demonstrated by celebrities wearing its items: among the others Amal Alamuddin, Michelle Obama, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Lopez and Lady Gaga.
The distribution network, renowned because of the elegance and the attention to detail of its exhibiting spaces, characterized by black and scarlet red, grew through time. In Italy, which is the main market of the company, there are three monobrand shops: in Milano, nowadays in via Montenapoleone, in Rome, in via del Babuino, and in Porto Cervo. Abroad, instead, there are 297 shops and 25 corners in 55 countries, while the online sales happen on marketplaces such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Moda Operandi, Farfetch and Ounass.
The big growth of the turnover in 2021 (+ 101 %) and 2022 (+ 54,2 %) encouraged the maison to try to increase its distribution: in Italy they aim for the fourth monobrand shop, in Capri, while abroad the purposes are China, Japan and Corea. Since January 2023 the company entered the Chinese market, thanks to its haven on Tmall, the marketplace by Alibaba group, where it sells its most representative creations.
The style of Pasquale Bruni
During an interview, Pasquale Bruni said: «Our creations are thought for a sophisticated and demanding public, which loves unique jewels, handcrafted and able to convey a haute couture spirit». The brand, indeed, distinguishes, in addition to its inspiration, coming from the natural world, because of its big experimentation in shapes, materials and colors and because of the attention reserved to raw materials, mainly gold and gems.
The maison is provided by pink gold in an alloy expressly created for it, in order to exalt the warmth and the brightness of the metal and to lend more sensuality; the gems, instead, are singularly acquired according to severe qualitative and aesthetics criteria. Pasquale Bruni, indeed, is included among the founders of the and chooses them on the basis of the Kimberley Process, which forbids the use of diamonds coming from war areas, in order to avoid subsidizing rebel movements and conflicts.
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