Stefano Cortecci pursues the stones to create magnificent pieces for Italian jewelry house Pomellato. We had a pleasant interview with Cortecci about the world of colorful jewelry and precious stones.
When did your passion for jewelry begin?
My father has taught geochemistry for 30 years at a university. So, I played in his lab a lot when I was young. Then, I studied gemology and became a gemologist. After a while, I realized that I wanted to do something else. I didn’t want to work in geology field, going to mountain with hammer rock or something like that those days. So, I decided to make something totally different and moved from Pisa, which is my hometown. This way, I started to this business. I think, when you are purchasing in something, it comes from your internal part, from your soul. I mean, you can buy watches, shoes or you can buy anything, but the stones are quite different. Because the stones have bonds with past. When purchasing the stones, you should adopt your tastes on something specific. You can see that everything has already cut in this room, yet those pieces come from rough and raw material. So, you have to know exactly how to take out from the rough condition, which is best part. In order to deal with raw material, of course, we have to travel a lot all around the world. Also, your skills must be quite strong. Because crystals are unique pieces with the accents and their all details. And your relations are very important when purchasing rough materials, since you meet different people, cultures, languages and habits. You must adopt yourself to all these situations.
How do you discover the stones to use in your creations?
I have been working with Pomellato team for more than 17 years. Of course, I have developed different skills through those years. Yet, the most important thing when I choose the stones for our collection, I always keep in my mind who we are. Because each single piece represents Pomellato. Discovering the stone idea develops in our mind, but before it must develop in our heart and soul.
“When you are pursuing something, it comes from your soul.”
You hunt the stones for Pomellato, so is there a piece you own and never take off?
Actually, I love to purchase jewelry for my wife, my daughter and mother. I love to see people while they are wearing our products. Because I can link our products to the personality of other people. So, when I buy something from us, it means that your behavior and personality becomes unique and quite different with Pomellato jewelries.
What is your favorite piece from Pomellato collections?
Nudo is a very iconic collection. It totally represents us.
Pomellato uses “Responsible Gold” in its collections. Do you think that the jewelry industry is moving towards a sustainable way?
Definitely. Nowadays many people talk about sustainability and ethics, but these concepts also must be something that comes from you, from internal side. I started to this business more than 20 years ago when nobody never talked about sustainability. Even those days we tried to do best sustainable way to purchase the stones. So, the sustainability concept is very important for our products and lines.
Also, last year you launched the Kintsugi collection in which created by using broken and shattered gemstones…
Kintsugi was an amazing project! We used the stones that were damaged by applying this antique Japanese technique, which is super sophisticated. Although nobody was able to work on the broken stones, an amazing collection was created in this way. And right now, many fields used the Kintsugi concept with different pieces. So, it was an interesting collection.
I have a question about the stones of Turkey, do you have a special memory to share related to the stones of Turkey?
I know the Zultanite gem, which originates from the Anatolia and something very unusual. It has perfect cleavage, and it changes color under different light sources. It is really an interesting gemstone.
What kind of gems do you like to wear?
I have a big office with a big desk. I keep many different crystals in this desk; I don’t love to wear jewelry, but I love to touch them. I love to play with them because different crystal vibes give different emotions. For me, it is really a very interesting feeling.
