The new Artistic Director of storied French jeweler, Maison Repossi, shares her uniquely modern eye for design.
By Kate Hudon Davidson
Gaia Repossi is slowly taking the world of fine jewelry by storm. Recent collaborations with New York ‘It’ boys Alexander Wang and Joseph Altuzarra for the designers’ Fall 2010 collections may have formally announced her arrival stateside but Gaia and the House of Repossi splashed into the U.S. market three years earlier, atop waves of considerable success in Europe.
Gaia's great-grandfather founded Maison Repossi in Turin, Italy in the 1920s. In the decades since, Repossi expanded from Italy to locations in Monaco and Paris, and famously established itself as the official jeweler to the royal family of Monaco.
In the four years since she assumed the post of Artistic Director, 24-year-old Gaia has injected a thoroughly modern sensibility into new designs for the House. Her debut collection, Ere by Repossi— a collaborative effort with childhood friend Eugenie Niarchos—was comprised of beautifully articulated, second-skin type filigree designs that were almost instantly seen on the arms of every fashion harbinger from Carine Roitfeld to Karl Lagerfeld to Natalia Vodianova.
Decidedly focused on opening the house of Repossi up to a broader, younger clientele, Gaia’s early collections are a study in delivering high design through a tightly managed price point. Strategic design choices such as using rose-cut diamonds over more expensive cuts, and experimenting with blackened gold [a very uncommon treatment in fine jewelry], lend her pieces a youthfulness and informality that make them suitable for day.
Gaia Repossi personifies the juxtaposition between formal, old-world fine jewelry design and modern jewelry’s casual wearability. Gaia’s seemingly natural intuitiveness and future-focused outlook make us think that the the House of Repossi will be one to watch in the seasons to come.
Gaia shares her insights with ElleAccessories Channel on designing jewelry for today's woman, the state of fashion today, and a few things people might not know about her.
What inspired you to start designing jewelry?
I actually always wanted to be a painter not a jewelry designer. I realized a desire to design jewelry later on when I started taking care of the creative direction of Repossi.
How does the heritage of the House influence your collections, if at all?I make a conscious effort to push myself to do different things and to produce the unexpected. I try to approach designing with a sense of ‘tabula rasa,’ free from any specific source of inspiration.
How would you define your design aesthetic? What excites you about designs/innovations in jewelry right now?
My father first introduced me to Indian jewelry, exposing me to the way it is worn and it’s unique sense of volume. Nomadic and ethnic jewelry is, for me, the most expressive. The way Nomadic and other cultures (whether it be Indian, Arabic..etc) use jewelry as part of an outfit interests me. The jewelry functions as an integral part of an overall look or a means of expression. I think that those cultures’ ways of wearing jewelry is lost nowadays.
If you weren't designing jewelry, what would you be doing?
I would paint- I've painted my whole life.
Where do you most commonly derive inspiration when you sit down to design a new collection?
I first imagine the pieces on the body and sketch those silhouettes. As I already mentioned, I love the idea of Nomadic and antique jewelry (favorites include: Roman, Arabic, Indian and Mexican). I also love large-scale pieces that adapt and contour to the shape of the body. These can translate into cuffs, full-length finger rings, and earrings that wrap along the outline of the ear. I find myself drawn to silhouettes that embrace and elongate the female form.
How was collaborating with Alexander Wang and Joseph Altuzarra different?
I find Alexander to be the most professional young designer I've ever met. It's amazing to be able to combine the ideas of youth and ingenuity with a sense of seasoned professionalism. Joseph is extremely delicate and gentle in his work. It almost seems like answers come to him naturally through his patience and diligence.
What young designers are you excited by this season?
I think Alex Wang is the strongest young designer of the moment. Without doubt, I think Joseph Altuzarra and Alexander Wang both represent the future of New York fashion. On the European front, I believe that Céline and Isabel Marant presented the most exciting collections for Fall.
What is your one 'must-have' accessory for this Fall?
An Hermès clutch- from the Fall ’10 collection.
What is one thing that most people don't know about you?
The extent of the importance of my artwork to me personally. Painting is my first passion.
at Rachel's comment... 
), but imvho her outfit would have looked better with her Balmain sparkly pumps and her 2.55 instead of the Céline bag.
