Skip to main content

Francesca Amfitheatrof

It has been a year since Francesca Amfitheatrof was appointed design director of Tiffany & Co. but her inaugural collection, Tiffany T, made its debut just two weeks ago. The wait was worth it. Using the letter T as an inspiration for the shape of rings, necklaces and bracelets, Amfitheatrof has produced a line of understated, structural pieces. Her treatment of materials is architectural, each line deliberate. These aren't the kind of pretty, girlish baubles a clueless young man would choose for his beloved. This is seriously smart bling.

Amfitheatrof is the company's first female design director – and the eighth person with the title since Tiffany & Co. was founded in 1837. Her predecessor, John Loring, held the position for 30 years and retired in 2009, giving the brand an opportunity to refresh its image.

Although Tiffany had maintained a faithful following, it wasn't fashion-forward in the manner of contemporary, cult-favourite jewellery designers such as Eddie Borgo, Pamela Love and the Dannijo sisters. The brand that launched a million little blue boxes, Tiffany needed a new voice: Amfitheatrof, with her combination of artworld savvy (she has curated major museum exhibitions) and 20 years of jewellery making experience – was it.

While her creations aren't necessarily for the teenage demographic (one that Tiffany & Co. has courted to much success), Amfitheatrof is playing off the brand's ability to make its clientele feel as though they belong to a club. Just as receiving a "Return to Tiffany" tag bracelet became a Sweet-16 rite of passage, women who wear a T design have the satisfaction of being part of an au courant tribe. In this regard, Amfitheatrof is building on the work of Elsa Peretti, whose cuffs have graced the wrist of many well-heeled women and are some of Tiffany & Co.'s most iconic pieces.

A trained jeweller and silversmith, Amfitheatrof, who is now based in Brooklyn, received a master's degree from the Royal College of Art in London, England. With a résumé that reads like a roll call of luxury and good taste, Amfitheatrof has dreamed up pieces for Alessi, Wedgwood and Asprey & Garrard.

She has also created jewellery collections for Chanel, Fendi and Marni, three labels with dramatically different styles. Amfitheatrof now finds herself overseeing a company with a 177-year-old history and aesthetic all its own.

"I think that Tiffany has often been a leader in changing the way we wear jewellery," she says during a recent visit to Toronto, referring to Peretti's work as well as the more ornate, exquisite pieces from Jean Schlumberger, who joined Tiffany & Co. in the mid-fifties and soon became a favourite of Jacqueline Kennedy and Diana Vreeland. "[The brand is] very much about the design rather than decoration."

Using that notion as a starting point, Amfitheatrof's debut collection is as functional as it is fashionable. Because Amfitheatrof is "drawn to the engineering" of objects, her collection features such clever elements as modular linking (which allows pieces to twist in any direction) and fastenings that can easily accommodate changes in chain length. "I love metal," she says. Fittingly, yellow, white and rose gold, sterling silver and black rhodium all star in the collection, along with a scattering of diamonds and a measured amount of ceramic. The T collection, Amfitheatrof asserts, is for someone "who has her own sense of style and has her own confidence."

She creates pieces that women will buy for themselves, not trinkets for suitors to select for them – an important distinction if Tiffany & Co. wants to thrive as a modern business. "I'm very attracted to what I see," Amfitheatrof says of her muses, the women she observes every day. "There's something about New York women that's very free, and I really wanted to hone in on that freedom, that confidence, that speed and way of being."

Amfitheatrof's task in envisioning her initial collection was to articulate both her own point of view and that of Tiffany & Co. Of course, it helped that her appointment came with much enthusiasm from her new employer. "Change is in the air," she says. "That isn't just [a message] used on the surface – it's going very deep inside the brand." Amfitheatrof will lead the design of products ranging from tableware to gifts to engagement pieces; the annual Blue Book, a kind of haute catalogue of special pieces, is also within her purview. It has been rumoured that those famous blue boxes may even get a facelift via limited-edition patterns.

Amfitheatrof has a surprisingly simple wish for the revitalized Tiffany & Co. "I would like women to come in [to Tiffany stores] and see what's going on, like they would go into an art gallery," she says. Attuned to the relationship between art, design and commerce, Amfitheatrof assesses her efforts so far straightforwardly: "The brand is talking to women and they want to hear more."

Interact with The Globe