The mystery of beauty in the jewelry of Regina Gambatesa.
Travelling the path of jewellery, on the borderline between life and research, Regina met Paolo Trizio of the historic family of jewellers. She moved to Bari and, in the late 1970s, began designing some of her limited-edition collections as part of the Enrico Trizio jewellery business. In the same period, he curates the collaboration between the famous jewellery designer Giancarlo Montebello and the Enrico Trizio jewellery store. In the Apulian capital, he began to frequent Speciale, a space for exploring a new way of understanding architecture and design - an 'alternative to the rationalist approach - frequented by his most important supporters of the radical movement, such as Alessandro Mendini. This period saw the birth of the three jewel icons representing Regina Gambatesa's creative vision: the Planetary Mind, the Relic pendant, and the Ogiva earrings.
Subsequently, she began to delve into the dynamics of imagination through a free dance technique in which the body becomes a living sign of an inner elaboration. She also participates in seminars aimed at the experience and study of altered states of consciousness as determining stages of the creative process, which will later allow her to structure a "Creative Laboratory on Ornament" for students interested in learning modalities related to sensory input.
Her work is recounted in the 1998 book "Sentimental Code" by art critic Francesca Alfano Miglietti. The following year, the Regina Gambatesa brand found a home in the workshop atelier in Via Roberto da Bari, an emotional place in Bari's city centre. Today, her work represents a brand known to the public that can be found inside the Enrico Trizio 1868 jewellery store exhibition and creative space where one can experience on one's skin the mystery of beauty, according to one of the most iconic contemporary jewellery designers.
As a renowned jewellery designer, Regina Gambatesa has participated in the most important design exhibitions, including "The special world" (Groninger Museum Groninger), "Women's design" (Museum of Contemporary Furniture, Ravenna), "Author's Crafts" (Palazzo Comunale, Siena), "Distant rites of home" (Alchemy Museum, Milano ) "Rebus sic-Contenitori di memoria" (Centro Studi Alessi, Milan), and at Pad Paris. In addition, his jewelry and ornaments have been published in various volumes (Mondadori, Electa, Ed.Byblos).
Jewelry as Ornaments of Feeling
The Ornaments of Feeling come from celebrating the mystery of beauty. They are ritual objects that reflect Regina Gambatesa's jewellery design philosophy. An ethical design is the final stage of a very long search at the roots of imagination, which has come down to us today in identifying three lines of high jewellery plus some exclusive jewellery series. If, in the primordial chaos, the image of a spermatozoon comes to infuse the revolution of the logos, here it is that its Serpent ring takes shape. This absolute sign of the Regina Gambatesa brand has declined in the Serpent Collection. The natural realm is a source of prolific inspiration, crystallised in the delicate jewellery of the nature collection. Then, when the author turns to the universe and all its laws, it unfolds through the rings and necklaces of the Mandala Collection.
"My work continues to blend tradition, creativity and inner reflection." Regina Gambatesa
Relic Pendant
Take a fistful of soil.
Scatter it into a small crystal urn.
It so becomes a precious relic, just like a gem.
Gazing at the relic, the myth returns.
Contemplating this myth becomes my prayer.
Golden spirit and crystals are the elements that reveal this.
In the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster, 1986 (R.G.)
Planetary Mind
“All this the child would like to possess, to take it between his fingers; he knows that this wonder, worn on his finger like a ring, simply turning the bezel, would turn him into a master of magical powers. He could open up walls, discover treasures, reveal mysteries, read the very bottom of the soul, and constantly keep with him in his hands a source of light rays. (...) But now this isn’t a dream any loner, it’s true! The spirit that has become matter between our fingers, the invisible that has become substance and stone, something so real and so hard that it can resist any tool, which stands as a perfect example of resistance… it exists.”
Paul Claudel
Ogiva Earrings
What would it feel like to be a pearl? How would it feel to be a golden spiral?
Is there an ecosystem connection between them and me? Between them and others?
If we could be what we are, what we were born to be, it would be easier for our being itself to shape our existence.
This certainty reforms deep within me each time I envisage a new project.
Gold, crystals, precious stones; these are the elements that express it.
(R.G.)
Biography
Regina Gambatesa was born in Bari and lived her adolescence in the Middle East between Turkey, Lebanon and Libya, where she came into contact with the cultures of these well-known places which were so evocative of a South she was already familiar with. Back in Italy, she began studying Architecture in Naples, but driven by her intense passion for design and jewel crafting, her dedication shifted to the "way of the precious", designing and creating fully fledged "dedicated jewels", ritual objects designed so that one could come closer to one’s inner self: a sort of ornamental icon. She then complemented her training by participating in seminars on the experience and study of changed states of consciousness as decisive stages in the creative process. These later allowed her to set up a "Creative Workshop on Ornaments" for students interested in learning methods related to sensory input. Her many experiences, constantly teetering between life and research, led her to believe that it must be possible to create ornaments with deep communicative values both for small and large-scale collections, even in a field which tends not to be as dynamic and innovative as that of jewellery. As a result of this need for comparison and exchange, 1999 saw her opening her own exhibition laboratory in Bari; a space for experimentation, a meeting place for a melting pot of ideas, cultures and paths through sensitive research. In 1998 she published her book "Codice Sentimentale" (Sentimental Code), a short journey through creativity, thought and inspiration expressed in objects, a means of attempting to demonstrate expressive fluidity through the language of uniquely unusual ornaments. Regina Gambatesa has participated in a number of key design events and exhibitions, including "The Special World" (Groninger Museum, Groningen)," The Design of Women " (Museo di Arredo Contemporaneo, Ravenna), "Crafts of the Artist" (Palazzo Comunale, Siena), "Rituals Far From Home" (Museo Alchimia. Milan) and "The Rebus of Memory Containers" (Centro Studi Alessi, Milan). In addition, her objects and ornaments have featured in works by a variety of leading publishers (Mondadori, Electa, Ed.Byblos).
Publications
BOOKS
- Pizzarelli M., Art Women, Lecce, ADI, 2009
- Corbascio D., Leone G., Losappio M., Verde, Bari, Gelsorosso, 2008
- Bergesio M. C., Lenti L., Dizionario del gioiello italiano del XIX e XX secolo, Torino, Umberto Allemandi e C., 2005
- Radina F., Semerari L., Ornamenta, Bari, Ministero per i beni e le attività culturali, 2004
- Gambatesa R., Codice Sentimentale, Milano, Virus e Mutation, 1998
- Angiuli E., Bari/Italy, Bari, Biblos, 1994
- Burkhard F., Mantica C., Mestieri d’Autore, Siena, Electa
- Brunton F., Luppi A., Il Design delle donne, Milano, Arnoldo Mondadori Arte, 1991
- Alessi A., Rebus Sic..., Lissone, Arti Grafiche Meroni, 1991
- Fizzarotti S., Restany P., Il ritorno dell’arte, Otranto, Editrice Salentina, 1987
- Marano U., Mendini A., Restany P., Riti lontani dalla casa, Bari, Edizioni Strippoli Mobili, 1986
- Haks F., Il mondo speciale, Gronigen, Groninger Museum, 1982
ARTICLES
- Cella F., Regina Gambatesa, in “Vogue.it”, 26 novembre 2017
- Tarcila B., Preziosi e chic. Di scena i gioielli di Regina gambatesa, in “Elle.it”, 3 aprile 2013
- Greco G., Architetture orientali, in “Io Donna”, 5 maggio 2012
- Tronville C. Regina Gambatesa designer di Gioielli, in “D la Repubblica”, 3 dicembre 2011
- Annibaldia G., Delia e le altre ornate da qui all’eternità, in “La gazzetta del Mezzogiorno”, 27 marzo 2004
- Delia A., Il Mediterraneo visto dll’arte”, in “La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno”
- Macri G., in “Argento!”, marzo 2000
- La Pietra U., in “Artigianato” aprile 1999
- Daloiso A., Il design pensa alla casa, in “La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno”, 13 marzo 1987
- A Otranto l’arte mediterranea, in “Quotidiano”, 27 giugno 1987
- l ritorno dell’arte nel Castello di Otranto, in “La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno”, 30 giugno 1987
- Viaggio nell’arte mediterranea, in “Quotidiano”, 5 giugno 1987
- Arte di Otranto, in “Quotidiano”, 12 luglio 1987 R.R., Charms e Codes, in “Vogue Gioiello”
- Il ritorno dell’arte, in “Flash Art” Ralli G., Un’aria nuova fra le mura antiche, in “Casa Vogue”