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Fashion Powerhouse TVF on the Power of Personalization

Talita Von Furstenberg has been called by her initials her whole life. “My family, and most of my friends, all call me TVF,” she explains. “My grandma goes by DVF. My grandpa goes by BD. My dad goes by AVF. My parents always loved monograms and personalization, so I always had personalized stationery, personalized backpacks. Everything that could have been embroidered was embroidered, in my childhood. So TVF has always felt like a way to refer to who I am.”

Nowadays she is co-chairman of the fashion brand founded by her grandmother Diane von Furstenberg some 50 years ago — where she is referred to as TVF by almost everybody she works with. “It’s almost more intimate now to refer to me as Talita,” she says. Naturally, then, when it came to designing her custom-made Carolina Bucci Color Field bracelet, TVF’s personal monogram was her go-to moniker.

On the resulting piece, the letters TVF are spelled out in individually cast sapphires to create a rainbow ombré effect against a canvas of champagne and white diamonds. On the reverse, each casting is Florentine-finished, a special hammered gold technique honed by generations of artisans. Each precious stone is carefully assembled on 18-karat gold chains which are handwoven together with silk threads, on a loom adapted from the Renaissance era.

“I am obsessed with it,” Talita says. The bracelet is so finely finished, so meticulously constructed, that the result is effortless.

It's such a significant piece, but when you're wearing it, it doesn't look flashy, or feel overwhelming. It's low-key enough that you have to be close, almost sitting next to me, to read it. It’s understated, and very dynamic. It changes so much — so as you walk, you see it differently.

The handwoven construction, meanwhile, gives it an unmistakable lightness. “It's so soft. You can barely feel it on your arm. It's very light. It's very wearable. During the day you can be doing almost anything — you don't feel like it's going to fall off or move around. There's not a lot of movement. It just — it moves with you.”

Given her fashion background — Talita studied Fashion Business and Marketing at New York University, and has been part of the industry since she first helped out backstage at a Diane von Furstenberg show at the age of seven – the bracelet’s construction is particularly poignant. “It's woven almost like a textile, which is something I've never seen before in jewelry,” she says. “So it's really special. I think for me, because I know so much about textiles, and I work in the fashion world, the idea that each one is handmade in this way makes it really unique. The idea of someone threading individual diamonds onto a bracelet? There's something so special about that.”

The Color Field bracelet’s beauty is rooted in its individuality. Its name and concept is inspired by the Color Field movement pioneered by abstract painters in the 1950s and 60s, characterized by large swathes of color on the canvas, and a gestural application. Like Color Field paintings, the bracelet is highly personal, and highly unique. Every single piece is a bespoke commission, created by Carolina Bucci’s master Florentine jewelers in collaboration with their client, and produced in the brand’s Florence atelier.

“The same craftspeople have been working and perfecting these techniques forever. And Carolina is so close to them, on a very personal level,” adds Talita. “I think that’s really special, because it's the same with DVF — we've been working with our factory since the 1970s. We have very close contact, a personal relationship with our production, we're always in touch with them to make sure everything's perfect.”

The fashion industry has become synonymous with the pursuit of the new – but part of the beauty of Carolina Bucci jewelry is in the extraordinary craftsmanship of the people who create it. “You can feel the artisanal beauty of the craft — there's a real love in the bracelet,” adds Talita.

It's similar to Murano glass. Murano glassmakers pass their trade down through the generations. Each piece is unique, because you can't blow glass the same way twice. Even if everything's the same, it always comes out a little different.

Talita is enjoying wearing her bracelet as a signature statement — and dressing it down. “It sounds counterintuitive, but I have been wearing the piece in more of a casual setting. It feels beautiful on the wrist, so wearing it with a pair of trousers and a blazer is really nice. That's how I'm envisioning it for fall and winter. During the summer I was wearing it more formally, because when you have more skin on display, you notice it more, so you feel like you are more dressed up. But when you're wearing more layers and your body is covered, it feels like you can dress it down. I've worn it also with no other jewelry, and also with a lot of other jewelry. It’s versatile.”

Not least, around her home — the New York City apartment she moved into with her boyfriend, Rocco Brignone de Brabant, a few months ago. She’s having fun decorating. “My house is a color explosion. There's a lot of prints. There's a lot of colors. It's very fun, very vibrant.” An ideal canvas against which to display her ever-evolving collection of objects. She loves the aforementioned Murano glass, for example: “So there's Murano vases, and Murano glass everywhere.”

Her favorite object? “I have a globe which opens up to become a cigarette holder. I don't even smoke cigarettes, but it's a very cool apparatus for smoking.” But she also loves her collection of books — both for the burst of color they bring to her home, and for the inspiration they give her.

For now, this library of reference material is inspiring the next chapter for DVF — which, under Talita’s eye, is always evolving, building on its relationship with its makers, its customers and its legacy. It remains a resolutely woman-owned organization, with women at its center.

For Talita, that makes Carolina Bucci a like-mind. “As a female-founded brand, Carolina Bucci is all about effortlessness, timelessness. Putting the woman first, and making her feel beautiful. That’s something that really resonates for both of us.”

The Color Field Bracelet

Carolina Bucci Color Field Bracelet

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