Modern Jewellery Icons #8: Repossi’s Serti Sur Vide Collection

In the eighth edition of our Modern Jewellery Icons series, we’d like to turn your attention to Place Vendôme jewellery brand Repossi and one of its most recognisable design codes: Serti sur Vide. Created to allow diamonds to float freely, let’s unpack how this design bursts into life and what we might expect from this floating, skin-friendly style in the future.

The Repossi jewellery brand is the wild card of Place Vendôme. Audacious, modern and sensual, its creations curve around the body, using the least amount of gold possible to create the illusion that stones and skin become one. This desire to create bold and gem-centric pieces for women on the go was one of the founding pillars that Gaia Repossi, granddaughter of founder Costantino Repossi, wanted to infuse into the design ethos of her family’s business. From this passion was born the Serti sur Vide collection, which uses specific stones and settings to create this effortless and sparkling look.

Similarly to other pieces included in our Modern Jeweller Icons series, such as Italian jewellery brand Pomellato’s Nudo design, or the Hot Lips rings by Solange, the Repossi Serti sur Vide collection has maintained its fundamental shape while undergoing subtle updates and tweaks to align with the evolving desires and needs of consumers. This iconic collection has seamlessly adapted to changing trends and preferences, retaining its essence while embracing modernity. Through meticulous design refinements and innovative touches, Repossi has ensured that each piece in the Serti sur Vide collection remains relevant and captivating, appealing to discerning jewellery enthusiasts seeking timeless elegance with a contemporary edge.

About Repossi

The story behind the Repossi brand began in 1957 in Turin when an industrial entrepreneur named Costantino Repossi decided to take his design background and love of the Art Deco movement to the next level by opening a small jewellery store. He passed this love of designing and creating onto his son Alberto, who eventually took over the family business and brought the Repossi name to international audiences. After opening a store in Monte-Carlo in the 1970s, Repossi became the official jeweller of the Monegasque crown, which propelled its rise to the top of the list of the most famous and glamorous jewellery brands. From there, the brand made its way to Paris, where it eventually opened its Place Vendôme store in 1986, along with the beautiful private apartment where the brand hosts its famous and private clients.

It is from this address that Gaia Repossi, daughter of Alberto, fell in love with the world of jewellery and gemstones. Having spent much of her childhood in her father’s atelier, surrounded by loose stones and sketches, her mind began to manifest and design her dream jewellery pieces. It was in 2007 that she took the helm of the brand, taking the lead as the Creative Director of Repossi, where she has since brought her innovative jewellery designs to life. Today, Gaia’s love of contemporary art, architecture and primitive jewellery alongside her respect for her family’s heritage as a high-end jewellery house are the blueprints for each of the brand’s most famous collections, including Antifer, Berbere and Serti sur Vide to name a few. Gaia believes that bold jewellery pieces are meant to be worn as works of art, which inspires her to challenge the limits of traditional craftsmanship techniques to create the most avant-garde jewellery on Place Vendôme.

The Birth of the Serti sur Vide Collection

The idea for the Serti sur Vide collection came from Gaia’s love of interacting with gemstones. One day in the atelier Alberto presented a challenge to his daughter – design a ring using this stone. she held the beautiful emerald against her fingers with a symbolic gemologist’s gesture, and she thought to herself “I wish I could have a solitaire ring where the stone could sit against my hand just like this”. It was this yearning that served as the source of inspiration for Gaia to figure out how to create a ring that allowed the full beauty of the stone to shine uninterruptedly against her hand and this in turn spurred on the beginning of the Repossi Serti sur Vide collection that launched in 2014.

Minimalist and contemporary is the aesthetic of this modern piece of jewellery, the first few models of which were rings, in keeping with Gaia’s vision. This avant-garde solitaire plays with the subtle paradox of full and empty space, using the most beautiful gems set in the Repossi patented ‘Eiffel Tower’ setting – a three-pronged ring shank that when examined looks much like its namesake, to give that elevated floating-feel to the stone. What’s more, the signature of the collection is the use of pear-cut diamonds exclusively. This diamond shape is the main character of each Serti sur Vide piece due to the paradox of its soft round head and sharp point.

The Evolution of the Serti sur Vide Design

The Serti sur Vide solitaire became the identity of the Repossi brand, and the design was quickly made available in a variety of other jewellery pieces such as dainty bracelets, cuffs, wraparound necklaces, large pendants, a contemporary twist on chandelier earrings and small ear cuffs as well as large ones that create a fully pierced cartilage look. Both yellow and white gold became the metal basis for the designs as well as rhodium-plated gold to create an edgy contrast between the clarity of the flawless colourless diamonds and the deep black gold hues. What’s more, coloured stones were introduced into the collection. Pear-cut emeralds and rubies set against a background of white diamond pave added a flash of colour to the collection. Additionally, the Serti sur Vide motif made its way into the high jewellery creations of the Maison, creating one-of-a-kind pieces featuring larger pear-cut gems.

The 10th Anniversary

A decade has passed since the birth of this ground-breaking design and to honour this important milestone, Repossi commemorates the Serti sur vide collection through two new and distinct jewellery chapters. This two-part collection, the first of which launched during the January Haute Couture week, revisits the collection’s foundational principles and honours archival pieces by Constantino, carefully curated from the House’s archives. The first chapter unveiled eleven pieces that skillfully blend the technical innovation needed to create that perfect Repossi pear shape along with design flexibility and versatility. Entirely made from white gold, diamonds and emeralds, each piece features a select few bezel-set gems, which act as a breadcrumb path to draw the viewer’s attention to the main feat of the design – that perfect pear cut, many of which were re-cut once in Repossi’s possession to fit their tight criteria. The highlight of the collection is the Tie Necklace, a tribute to Alberto’s renowned necklace of the same shape which he made for a private client in the year 2000.

The second chapter of this ten-year celebration collection will debut during the June 2024 Couture Week and will consist of six pieces that curate a daring interplay of stones, shapes, colour and bold lines. Although we do not know much about these pieces, we expect the same patented Repossi combination of sensual, minimal and modernity that each design brings.

What is next for the Serti sur Vide Collection?

Under Gaia’s reign, the Repossi brand has eschewed traditional norms and broken free of preconceived structural limitations by creating innovative pieces that prove to its fine and high jewellery contemporaries on Place Vendôme that invention and heritage can sit hand in hand in this luxury space. Gaia will continue to direct and push the boundaries of her designs, bringing the Repossi clients the Avant-Gardist jewels they crave, whilst continuing to showcase her dedication to the pear shape as well as the free-floating aesthetic. We cannot wait to see the June 2024 chapter!