Gandolfi is a rich and ambitious project, colorful and with a long history. It was born with the twenty- first century with the intention of reinventing the art of jewelry.

Mix a tablespoon of art, add a good dose of design, a tad of illusion then grind it down a little, and let these ingredients simmer until it all turns into a dream.

The jewelry is a transient art, expendable and perhaps not of practical use but nonetheless necessary, because it represents something that can turn a dark and sad night into a bright and cheerful day.

“In the last 14 years since I started designing jewelry, I have always compared in my mind and my heart, the excitement of a child receiving a Christmas gift, with my wife’s elation when I gift her a new piece, one of that I baked with so much love, to give her euphoria and joy and turn her dark night into a bright day; that is why I design jewelry. My art may not be functional. In fact, the designer of a can opener may have given us an object infinitely more useful than the 2000 pieces that I have designed, but I am sure that it has not provided as much joy and delight as my pieces.” Ignacio says.

From the time of ancient Egypt, goldsmiths have been influential craftsmen in all cultures and the nature of this work has not changed very much in all these centuries, perhaps we work with better and more accurate tools, but the essence remains the same; that is, a gem has been a motif that determines social status and economic power through gold, silver and precious stones. But a few years back when Ignacio started in this business, some innovative jewelry designers thought that jewelry design should not be dominated by the value of materials but by the genius involved in the design, where the value is mostly in the form. It´s true that today we still use gold and silver and most likely we will continue doing it, but we are also creating and using new materials like our Gandolfi resin, or plastics and less valued materials, transforming them to high valued gems through art. The value in these pieces is not because of the material but the genius and unique design of the piece.

Ignacio adds: “Not long ago, I read in a jewelry web blog that a designer had gained great reviews for the design of edible rings. Others are using elastic rubber or paper or old objects found in an attic; all these are new species of jewelry that derive their value from the art and not the material, and they can either last a moment or last forever. Afew crazy and passionate artists started this revolution not by inspiration alone, but at least in my case noticed that many in the new generation did not want the classics old gold rings from their mothers, and looked for fresh, cool, and unique products that took their value mostly from design and art rather than outdated values like social or economic status attached to materials. I also felt that these young women and men, most of whom work and are trained professionals, have an idea of what they want and like their jewelry to be a complement of their clothing style. They want design, they want to feel identified by their jewelry, and they want a fresh and honest object of art that reflects them; the jewel of me”.

The “jewel of me” is the essence of Gandolfi Art and this is what we keep on creating in our dreams when Ignacio sits in the studio in front of his computer screen and starts creating a 3D piece, but it is not until the end when we finish the long creative process using industrial casting of metals and the mastery of an artisan in a goldsmiths’ workshop that we finally convert that vastly melted metal into a great jewel and end up preparing our fantastic recipe of a dream.