“The Furla rubies that we propose [in the collection], when we were told about these rubies, our gemologist just got on a plane and went there,” she says. Have they been sold yet? “Of course, there’s not much left, I can tell you that.”
Amfitheatrof has a strong combination of skills and a solid track record. The designer was born in Japan, before growing up in New York, Rome and then London. She attributes her obsession “with details and proportions” to Japan, her “love of beauty and life” to Italy, and “her obsession with pushing creativity” to the English art schools. In 2013, she became Tiffany’s design director, launching iconic lines such as the Tiffany T and Hardwear that are still driving sales today. She joined Louis Vuitton in 2018 where she remains behind the success of LV Volt, the house’s unisex line.
“We have an incredible focus on breaking the rules. We buy stones that most people don’t always buy. Jewellery can be very traditional — pigeon blood rubies, certain types of sapphires. We’d love to propose something unusual. Mandarin garnet was a stone that we really put on the map, we put tsavorite on the map,” she adds.
Ramping up production capacity is a competitive advantage amid increasing competition and growing demand. “We’ve purchased an atelier in Paris and we are starting to really strengthen our foundation to have long-term growth,” says Amfitheatrof. “We have to now manage things from a startup to a more solid support. A lot of it has been done through having the experience, but it’s important that we become a little bit more grown up now. It’s exciting.”
Correction: This article was updated to clarify that the rubies in the collection are Furla rubies (10/6/24).
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