Alice Cicolini’s Jewelry Channels Women’s Inner Goddess

Alice Cicolini is an artist known for vibrantly colorful creations that masterfully integrate traditions and techniques from India and Japan while showing off luscious colored gemstones. A quick glance at her Goddess collection might give the impression of a radical departure from her signature style. However, at the heart of her gold-only engraved ring series lies her distinct spirit as a storyteller: cerebral and sensual, symbolic and imbued with meaning.

Working with gold-engraving is not new for the London-based Cicolini, who has spent a decade using this technique as the basis of her meenakari jewelry. The notable difference is that for her Goddess rings, she collaborated with Colombian goldsmith Juan Sebastian Galan Bello to create pieces in 18-karat-yellow-gold repoussé. Meenakari involves working inward, whereas repoussé goes outward. Repoussé is generally used for large decorative objects such as plates or bowls, notes Cicolini. Geneva-based Galan Bello had to make specific tools to achieve the necessary level of detail for the intricate drawings on each ring. Cicolini wanted her rings to play between the high polish of the inside and the satin finishes of the outside.

Crafting a story

Looking at the multi-layered symbols each ring carries is part of the attraction of the Goddess collection. Which one appeals most to its potential wearer? Is it Juno, the goddess of womanhood, represented by a peacock, a pomegranate, a hummingbird, clouds and butterflies? Or maybe Minerva, the wise one, with her owl, snake, flute and olive branch? All the goddesses’ attributes have been thoughtfully researched. For Cicolini, this is in keeping with her approach to jewelry-making.

“My work is about creating narratives and stories. I’m telling you a story, but then at the point where you buy it, it becomes your story,” she says. “And what happens to it afterward is that there’s a whole other layer of life and energy in the work.”

One of the designer’s inspirations was The Myth of the Goddess: Evolution of an Image by Anne Baring and Jules Cashford, a scholarly study on the topic. Cicolini felt that her collectors would not be able to identify with Minoan rings featuring figurative goddesses or the modern interpretations created by Hollywood celebrities.

“My customer is a self-purchasing woman who is a strong, powerful, deep and successful human. I asked myself what kind of talismanic jewelry object would be interesting and resonate with a woman like that,” she relates.

The next evolution

A serendipitous encounter with Charlotte Gastaut, a French illustrator who contacted the jeweler for a private commission, transformed Cicolini’s vision into reality.

A limited-edition line with 25 models for each ring, the Goddess collection made its debut in Los Angeles at an event organized by industry consultant Victoria Lampley Berens, founder of jewelry platform The Stax. Since then, Cicolini has introduced the Mini Goddess series, with pared-down drawings but similar symbols. Pieces are available at Single Stone in Los Angeles and Liberty in London, as well as directly from the designer.

Main image: Model wearing Flora and Iris rings from the Goddess collection. (Agenda Brown at Visual Marvelry)

This article is from the July-August 2024 issue of Rapaport Magazine. View other articles here.