Delfina Delettrez Fend is a designer and jeweller based in Rome. Since the inception of her brand in 2007, she has developed a signature perspective using a wide material vocabulary, manifested in her original use of figurative surrealism and natural iconography including hands, eyes, bees and lips. These adorn different parts of the anatomy in a continuous game of echoes.

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Delfina’s latest work explores a more conceptual sense of the surreal: instead of adding, she now subtracts, viewing precious stones as self-sufficient in themselves and creating ‘phantom settings’, which give the illusion of fine jewels floating around the body. The unique aesthetic of Delfina’s work comes from the marriage of classical goldsmith techniques with innovative contemporary materials, progressing traditional Italian craftsmanship to create modern, futuristic jewels. Her kinetic pieces - tourbillon bracelets and rings with spinning, concentric layers of precious metal or expandable, hinged bracelets and rings named ‘Detaille Unique’ - utilise the excellence of traditional Italian handicraft, mixing it with postmodern inspirations, so the pieces are a fusion of past and future. Delfina’s designs are hyper-modern, but still handmade in her Roman atelier.

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Delfina is the youngest designer included in the permanent collection of fine jewellery at the Louvre’s Musée des Arts Decoratifs; her work has been part of the museum since October 2010. In June 2012 gallery Antonella Villanova featured a solo exhibition in Florence entitled ‘Delphinarium’, a comprehensive look at Delettrez’s path as a jeweller. In December 2012 a solo exhibition of Delfina Delettrez was showcased by Antonella Villanova gallery at Design Miami 2012. Delettrez presented her ‘Never Too Light’ collection at Almine Rech Gallery, Paris in September 2013. In 2014 she created a short film to launch her ‘Gold Vein’ collection. The film charts an imaginary, temporal journey beyond space and time to create a surreal vision of another world. Her love for contrasts remains untouched. 

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Your family is renowned throughout the fashion world. What was it like to grow up in the Fendi household, attend catwalks from a young age and meet fashion icons?

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It was so great, beautiful and inspiring. I am who I am because of my family; they gave us an incredible freedom to experiment. I was constantly playing in my mother’s wardrobe, trying on everything until one day she got home and found me with scissors in my hands, cutting and transforming all of her archive clothes. I must say that looking back to her reaction, she had to be mad at me but she was trying to hide a sense of proudness ‘e di divertimento’ to see me at a very early age expressing myself with so much confidence and precision. Of course, from that day scissors were banned from our home. But when she recalls that day she says that she clearly understood that I had a very strong sense of fashion and she is now very supportive of my career.

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Your pieces are stunning. What inspires you?

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Being surrounded by such a creative family has definitely allowed me the freedom and confidence to express my own creativity, which I choose to express through the art of fine jewellery. I take daily inspirations from all the things around me, starting from the materials I work with to my home in the city of Rome, the stories people tell me and their hidden symbolism. Nature and figurative surrealism also play a part in the iconography in my work.

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Where do you showcase your jewellery?

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In my boutiques in Rome on Via del Governo Vecchio and on London’s Mount Street. My work is also available in around 70 retailers worldwide. I am very honoured to be the youngest designer included in the permanent collection of fine jewellery at the Louvre’s Musée des Arts Decoratifs.

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Do you plan to launch further items, such as clothes, bags or shoes?

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I am very excited to grow my fine jewellery business, especially since I am always learning and creating new techniques, but never say never.

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Tell us about the Fendi watches you created?

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I have collaborated with FENDI a number of times, including two jewellery collections entitled ‘FENDI Furry Tales,’ which was a daring collection which merged my signature style, the eye and fur and FENDI’s symbol and icon. Most recently, I created the Policromia FENDI timepieces, a voyage through time from the mysterious myth to the future. 

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