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Gold lace cuff with trillion-shaped tanzanite by Pia Mariani

Pia Mariani

Heaven, earth and gold lace jewelry

Miuccia Prada has made lace a hot fashion trend. But can that be translated to jewelry? Pia Mariani believes so. Her Sheherazade collection features gold lace necklaces, cuffs, earrings, rings, brooches and cufflinks. And just like the cotton lace it is modeled after, Mariani's intricate gold appears as fluid as fabric, enveloping fingers and wrists or curling into the petals of a flower.

Like Prada, Mariani lives and works in Milan. She has a degree in painting from the Fine Arts Academy of Brera and is fascinated by jewelry that transforms. In 1994, Mariani created a globe that opens and closes thanks to a gem-studded mechanism along the equator.

More recently, she has focused on the heavens with an angel motif named Gabriel.

A circle takes the place of a point for the angel's head and two of the points have been transformed into wings. There are Gabriel pendants and earrings in gold and platinum, and a bracelet with a string of tiny angels that appear to be holding hands. Some angels are set with diamonds and one has a Tahitian pearl head.

In Mariani's eyes, angels are not just messengers from the heavens, but modern beings with real life passions. The collection includes a photographer, a Samurai, a soccer player, and an angel on a motorbike, which could be a good luck charm for anyone attempting to navigate the streets of Milan on wheels.

Pia Mariani is available at Holt Renfrew in Canada, and the Pia Mariani boutique in Milan. For global availability contact info@piamariani.com.