By Simone Bandini
We are in the new store in the heart of Florence, in Borgo Santi Apostoli. Megan, Sebastian’s American wife, is the architect of all DelBrenna’s stores and enthusiastically tells us how the latest opening in Dante’s city, last spring, was designed according to the dictates of vintage and modern synthesis. Come with us, we will take you to this ‘room of wonders’ and tell you their story.
The shop windows, you should see them in real life, have an incredible silhouette and shapes; Developed vertically, they are slender and light at the same time, giving a sort of impetus in height to the creations and restoring the exact size of a jewel worn. Forged in iron and corten, they fit perfectly into the rooms of the Palazzo, illuminated by imposing antique chandeliers in style: “In our shop in Borgo Santi Apostoli in Florence, where ‘Ferragamo’ is also located, we have put very special wooden floors: oak with planks all different from each other stained with tobacco,” Megan tells us. Great originality and style in this solution.
We recently went to visit them at their ‘parent company’, in the first and historic laboratory and store in Cortona, to learn about the magic of their success. So, we went down to the dungeons of Palazzo Alfieri Venuti under the vaults still covered with marsh reeds of the nearby Trasimeno, as was once the custom in these parts. Precious display cases boldly designed as ethereal and graceful caskets guard jewels and artisan magic; There in a mighty niche stands an ancient press from 1634, further on theories of vintage bottles hint at a certain bold vision of worldliness, elegance and ‘good life’.
While I am becoming familiar with the environments and the collections of jewels, I am suddenly recalled, in a completely magnetic way, by a display case that houses a model of a chain, the first studied by Massimo DelBrenna, Sebastian’s father who, like the famous “number one” of Scrooge McDuck, attracts my curiosity: “All our creations, today as then, they are technically and stylistically inspired by four ‘archetypal’ chains of our family that can be more or less large, satin, striped – and which represent our signature, the distinctive feature of our collections,” explains Sebastian.
Just think that in these models, entirely handmade, “You need 88 passes per inch, we counted them!”, Megan points out.
Links, balls, donuts or cylinders: four types of chain that can be combined in infinite combinations, giving free rein to family creativity: “Novelties are the order of the day, we have fun and challenge our creativity to always invent something new. From historical models, such as the one inspired by ‘Etruscan granulation’ to the symbolic sentimentality of hearts – which never goes out of fashion – we serve all ages across the board, from a travel thought to the events and anniversaries that mark the life of a couple or a family,” they tell us.
Also this summer we recorded in Cortona, as well as in Florence, a large and majority American turnout. The United States, yes! But how did this beautiful Italian-American couple come together?”
Originally from Kansas City, in 2003 I went to study architecture in Castiglion Fiorentino. I got a job at Kansas State University that allowed me to extend my stay; As fate would have it, my roommate was engaged to Sebastian’s best friend. That’s how we met at the legendary ‘Velvet Underground’ in Castiglione. Then he invited me out again…” This is where the histrionic spirit and the ‘Tuscan’ genius of her husband take over, who adds with an ill-concealed smile: “When I found out that she came from Kansas, so far from the sea, I immediately took her to eat lobster!”
“At the time I was enraptured by the food, the buildings, the history of these places – but I soon realized that I loved the people of Cortona: there is a joy of being together and a ‘human’ consideration of others that is special, unknown to ‘us’. There’s really a special magic in this land,” Megan continues.”
This same magic is transferred to our jewellery. I don’t like standardization and homologation. The real challenge in using our foundation elements is incredible and is defined by the expression ‘To think out of the box’. We create things that don’t exist, it’s the magic of what happens to us,” Sebastian continues, concluding: “Made by us, made with love, you can’t get out of this circle! Returning from the States where I used to sell jewellery for my father wholesale, I created the brand ‘DelBrenna’ together with my wife, then acquiring the family business in 2017. The first single-brand store was born in Cortona in 2008, then we moved to America by opening the Kansas City store (2018), we also dedicated ourselves to developing online shopping until the opening of the Florence store in May 2023”.
Info: Borgo Santi Apostoli 45R, Firenze (Fi) / Tel. 055 2025030 / Website: www.delbrenna.com / Email: info@delbrenna.com
– Shop and Workshop in Cortona:, Piazza della Repubblica 12, Cortona (Ar) / Boutique, Tel: 0575 601518 / Office, Tel: 0575 630643