One special day in Angry jewellery company

Hi my dear readers and jewellery lovers!

In these long, difficult days at home I often think of you and of my goldsmiths, jewellers, craftsmen friends I met over the years and who are being affected, to varying degrees, by the ongoing crisis due to partial or total inactivity… I care deeply about this and the next coming article, in which I’m going to tell you about these friends.

This article is about my visit to the company of my dear friend Fabio Angry, owner of a high jewellery brand based in Valenza. Fabio and his family are special people and I fell madly in love with their creations during my first visit to VicenzaOro fair… at that time my beloved blog was under construction…

My memories of that day are still very much alive in me yet today. VicenzaOro’s 7 ^th pavilion housing high jewellery stands will always be the pavilion of my dreams, my “Pleasure Island”; and Angry’s stand will be my cotton candy, my forbidden apple… Inside was Fabio’s beautiful wife Alessia. She showed me the jewels that impressed me the most… it was a true meeting of the minds with her, having in common being both pregnant, she was in her last month and I was in my third. Their company is one of many born in Valenza between the 70s and 80s, golden years of the Italian goldsmith production, and one of the few still operating.

Inside the Angry family’s factory I could witness the entire creation process of high manufacture jewels, from concept, drawing on paper to final polishing. As you may know, not all goldsmiths or jewellery companies, not even those based in the so-called city of gold Valenza, can make the entire production process of jewels in-house; that’s why producers join in powerful syndicates and every stage of production is entrusted to the best specialists. Angry’s whole production is made in-house: concept, prototyping, engineering, casting, manufacturing, setting, polishing and finally quality control.

I’m talking about top level manufacturing jewellery, made of gold and precious stones, perfect in every detail, luxurious and precious. Believe me, never as in this case, words can describe exactly the way I felt as I was wearing jewels by Angry.

Angry’s creator and designer Fabio really impressed me; he combines an innate and enviable artistic ability with a constant stylistic research and experimentation. It’s a boundless and continuous creative process that gives life to wonderful, exclusive, fancy and classy jewellery collections through an advanced technology equipment.

Fabio’s sketches, samples and drawings are what I first admired when I entered the magical world of Angry’s brand.  I met Fabio a thousand times in worldwide fairs and I wore his wonderful jewels as many times, but I never had the chance to see his drawings before. He is a true artist. He graduated from fine arts high school and specialized in jewellery design. He signed the brand’s first animalier collection.

Angry’s jewellery is all handmade; for this very reason, during my visit I was sure I would have heard background noises, ticking or any other kind of sound proving I was inside a jewellery factory. Instead, I surprisingly found craftsmen working in absolute silence, as if it we were inside an operating room split by partitions. Then I found out that handmade work and technology are not antithetical terms; the picture below shows one of the most innovative CAD/CAM systems, the most performing 3D printers on the market.

Fabio told me that the machine creates perfect, small elements, saving time and money. Machine-made products are somehow cold and “heartless”, that’s why it’s only for the production of linear and simple elements to make assembling faster… All the rest is handmade, as I said before: it’s the result of the accurate work of goldsmiths, gem setters and polishers, a great teamwork by a tight group of 20 artists (I like using this term instead of craftsmen), who have been creating wonderful jewels with utmost attention and endless, tangible passion for over 25 years.

It all starts with a 2D hand drawing, then it’s transferred on a 3D drawing. Two young goldsmiths, who know the “banquet technique”, have become CAD/CAM specialists; they put Fabio’s jewels in 3D and divide it into several elements that need to be assembled before becoming an outstanding product. Once the 3D prototype of the jewel is ready on the computer, wax moulds of linear elements are printed, while the other moulds are handmade by wax model makers (the “banquet technique” is often used). At this point the different elements of the jewel are handmade. Experience, excellence and artistic creativity are key requirements in this part of the process.

The advantage of creating jewellery from wax moulds is that very complex shape can be created and modified with very extreme accuracy and in a relatively short time. When the prototype is ready, a metal – in this case gold – is used in the casting process and when all elements are made, they are welded. Fabio’s craftsmen allowed me to use a state-of-the-art welding machine.

At this point the jewel gets its final shape and passes into the hands of the gem setters, who set with care and love the best stones available on the market. Fabio’s dad, Salvatore, who founded the company together with his wife Rosi, works as a setter side by side with his employees every day. It was so exciting to watch them working in silence and with great focus; they too use modern equipment.

Try to imagine thousands of sometimes tiny gemstones of different colours being set to obtain the desired design or effect. They gaze through the microscope and from time to time have a look at the drawing at their side; as they operate, they put the finishing touch to the jewel. The head of gem setters Daniele posts photos and videos of their wonders on Instagram every day; follow him at @didodani1975 and let yourself be amazed.

In the end, it’s time for polishing, rhodium-plating or burnishing, other key stages of the creative process. This is when magic comes true, the design comes to life in all its magnificence, ready for the quality control and sale.

Next week I’m going to post photos of the most beautiful jewels I worn. From the design concept to the finished jewel, an incomparable piece that makes every woman dream.

You can find jewellery by Angry at www.angry.it or on their Instagram page @angry_jewellery; their creations can be bought at Gioielleria Micarelli in Rome, Gioielleria Re Mida in Vicenza and Noli Gioielleria in Varazze.

A special thanks to the Angry family for making me live an exciting dream with open eyes! Write to you next week… hopefully for many of you!