From the front, the baguette-cut emerald earrings with pear-shaped emeralds on the end could be traditional pendant earrings as they have a very pure line. But from the side, the earrings look completely different with a large, black carbon fibre semi-circle giving them a more tribal vibe. This creative design by Fabio Salini is very much the synthesis of the Roman jeweller’s language: “to combine tradition with innovation. The carbon fibre adds a lot of strength to the piece and that is exactly what I want to express. You cannot be a contemporary designer without being innovative.”

 Salini notes that when Italian artist Lucio Fontana cut his canvases he revealed there was a world behind the canvas and says, “that’s what I want to express, when I set a stone backward, when you don’t see it from the front, I want to invite people to look behind the appearance.” As an example, the jeweller points out a pair of rubellite earrings, in which he incorporates a polished white gold mirror set perpendicularly to the stones to multiply their volume. 

“I want to approach jewellery design in an innovative way to go behind the appearance of stones and look deeper,” he muses, adding “I really want to make people understand that jewellery is a form of contemporary art, that the value is not necessarily in the stone, but in the design, research, manufacturing; there is so much work behind each piece.”

Having first trained as a geologist at the University of Rome specialising in emeralds, Salini honed his jewellery design knowledge while working for Cartier and Bulgari in the late 1980s-early ‘90s, before changing course completely and joining his family business in construction. “I think I would have regretted it if I didn’t join and it was actually a good thing (I did) because it really taught me to become entrepreneurial,” he recalls. During those years, Salini continued to create jewellery but just as a hobby, mainly for family and friends. However, after some of his creations were shown at the legendary jewellery boutique Petochi in 1999, and many of these pieces were bought by Queen Rania of Jordan, Salini decided to turn his hobby into a career.

From the start, Salini showed an interest in using unusual materials in his high jewellery pieces, such as rock crystal (now quite popular 20 years later), leather, silk, titanium, ceramics, oxidized copper, galucha (stingray), wood, resin and carbon fiber.

“I don’t really create collections. Each piece is unique and my creations have evolved through the introduction of different materials. My tastes change like the world around me. Creativity is an emotional process and of course emotionally you are influenced by what happens around you in the world, social and cultural movement,” he says.

He describes his jewellery as “contemporary classics” and points to his collaboration in 2013 with the celebrated Brazilian design duo, the Campana Brothers, pairing Brazilian bamboo and straw with gold and brown diamonds, “as a turning point” in his career.  

“That was for me the introduction to the contemporary art world and this collaboration taught me to look at my creations from a more conceptual perspective,” he says.

Salini is developing a more audacious design aesthetic. His latest interest focuses on carbon fiber as its lightweight nature offers greater freedom of scale, allowing him to become more sculptural in his approach.