Ilaria Furlotti's jewellery is born of sheer genius and fine production values

Most women love jewellery, but Ilaria Furlotti has a passion for it. With three decades spent in the jewellery business, Ilaria has developed an eye for the unusual and the extraordinary.

A few years ago Ilaria sold Alfieri & St. John, a well-known Valencia-based jewellery company that she ran for 25 years. "I had planned to lead a relaxed retired life, but I found myself missing my work very much," she confides.

She decided to start again, but rather than beginning from scratch, she wanted to start from the top. "In all my years in this business, the one designer I had admired most was Fulvo Scavia. So I made up my mind to approach him for a collaboration," she says.

Ilaria did her homework, put on her best jacket and travelled to Milan to meet Scavia, a designer whose exclusive creations are much sought after by the rich and famous. Ilaria's idea was to do a line of jewellery that had the creative genius of Scavia, but was priced to be accessible to more women. Fortunately Scavia liked the proposal and agreed to become her partner in the venture.


Scavia's designer collection.
Thus was born 'io si' by Scavia. "Io si is a commonly used Italian term that literally translated means 'I yes'; but in a broader sense it conveys an eagerness to try something new, to take on a challenge. I chose this name because it embodies the spirit of my new company," explains Ilaria.

Scavia does the designing and Ilaria is responsible for the production, marketing and financial planning of the company. "Our jewellery is all about artistic freedom and complete enjoyment of the creative process. Scavia does not follow trends – he creates them. Sometimes his designs are really difficult to manufacture, but I try to find a way to make them as he has visualised them," says Ilaria.

"Scavia is a perfectionist and extremely particular that his creations, besides being beautiful should be comfortable to wear. He comes to the workshop and tries out the jewellery himself, often pointing out rough edges to the craftsmen," she adds.

And indeed the 'io si' by Scavia jewels are a delight to wear. I tried on the 'aqua' necklace. A symphony of waves woven from platinum and diamonds, the necklace looked heavy, but was so smooth to the touch and sat so snugly around the neck that I could hardly feel it. The rings I tried on were the same. They looked chunky but were really light and comfortable on the fingers.


Scavia's designer collection.
Among the unique designs Ilaria showed me were multi-tiered rings and pendants, with pave diamonds or a colourful mix of precious stones sparkling beneath a chunky piece of quartz, playfully called 'cupido'.

A necklace called 'tango' was a fluid amalgam of three intertwined strings of diamonds and blue and pink sapphires. Aquamarine, amethyst and turquoise cut in unique shapes and ridged to reflect light in amazing ways sparkled in some of the ornaments while earrings in the shape of musical notes or ancient Greek amphorae winked mischievously from the display windows.

The ornaments had the creativity and distinctive stamp of Scavia, but with prices in the region of Dh300,000 for a diamond-studded neckband. The 'io si' by Scavia range is considerably less expensive than the trinkets from Scavia's very exclusive personal label.

"The quality of the jewellery is matched by the high standard of service we offer," reiterates Ilaria. Io si is already marketed through 70 outlets all over the world and Ilaria aims to bring that number to 150 soon. Io si by Scavia is available at Damas Les Exclusives boutiques in the UAE.