Watch how Barbara Innamorati, Founder and President of Évocateur, a luxury jewelry company, shifted from being in the world of corporate finance to heading an artisan jewelry company even without any experience in the jewelry industry
Barbara tells Guy of Jewelry Store Marketers and Elesa of Southern Jewelry News the story of how she became fascinated with and passionate about gold leaf, which she has seen years ago in a painting, and how her team transforms any design into something magical and extraordinary.
After years of research, trial and error, and several challenges, Barbara and her team have perfected the techniques of adapting 22K gold leaf into jewelry designs to create hand-gilded and burnished works of art in cuffs, bangles, earrings, necklaces, and rings.
Watch how Évocateur has created a new and different category in the jewelry industry which according to Barbara was not intentional but just happened.
Évocateur’s collection of gold leaf jewelry is not plated. Neither are they fine jewelry. Rather, they are something in-between.
Barbara goes on to take Guy and Elesa on a virtual tour of her studio in Westport, Connecticut to show how she and her team of skilled artisans individually handcrafted each piece in 22k gold leaf and sterling silver leaf. Barbara says gold leaf is as thin as a butterfly’s wing and very difficult to work with, and takes about 6 to 7 days to complete one piece of jewelry.
She emphasizes that all her gold leaf-based pieces of jewelry are handcrafted in this studio proudly saying they are made in the USA.
Jewelry store owners love Évocateur’s jewelry collection because they bring color to their stores which consist mostly of whites and yellows (silver and gold).