Marco Bicego deceives delightfully. You look at his designs and you feel the weight of Byzantine history in colorful stones, the power of African warriors in roped necklaces inspired by just some of his travels. Then you try on the pieces at a Neiman Marcus Westchester trunk show and are utterly disarmed. They’re as light as angel’s wings.
The secret may lie in the various techniques used to create Bicego’s (BICH ee go’s) collections. The new Masai Collection, sparked by the kinds of ornaments worn by the East African tribe, consists of hand-coiled, stackable strands in 18-karat white and yellow gold that cling to the female body’s curves. Lunaria features flat, textured, otherworldly designs engraved with hundreds of tiny lines by craftsmen using a Bulino tool in his Italian atelier. Other collections like Unico and Jaipur, with their multicolored precious and semiprecious gemstones, evoke the Eastern influences of Bicego’s native Venice.
His father was a goldsmith who founded a brand of gold chains in 1958. But while absorbing everything he could from his father – family is a big influence – Bicego wanted to contribute something different and debuted his first collection in 2000.
Today, Bicego’s jewelry can be found in high-end retailers like Neiman Marcus, gracing strong women like Kate Winslet and Hillary Clinton.
“My greatest inspiration is the woman wearing it,” Bicego told Forbes in 2015. “The Marco Bicego woman is modern. She has a tremendous sense of personal style and is not afraid to experiment with jewelry in unconventional ways….”
For more, visit marcobicego.com.
