History

In 1974 Marco Giuseppe Vincenzo Annaratone, after a time as a worker for the now closed company Frascarolo & C, established his own brand receiving the trademark 2088 AL.

The headquarters was located out of town in Strada Citerna, in a house at number 6.

At that time Annaratone made necklaces, and other creative items, for International jewellers. Among these remarcable objects, a representation of a family tree for an oriental king made with gold and amethyst is among the most notable ones.

In 2014 Elisa Annaratone took her father’s place, working with her husband and their partner Arturo Bonaventi. Elisa, thanks to her experience in her family’s business, is responsible for the creative department. Arturo, who originally from Brescia, has a technical background and he is in charge of project and production.

In 2019 Oscar Narratone joined the society, dealing with the sales department.

The original trademark and the headquarters have been kept as they were - but now a new commercial logo, “Annaratone Jewelry”, and a capital “A” letter with circles and cut gemstones, both designed by Elisa, have been added.

Annaratone now focuses almost exclusively on clients’ designs, or on their own designs, by manufacturing jewels in gold, silver or platinum wire mounts. The items produced in this way usually are unique pieces, handcrafted with specific features.

The making of volumes, movement of shapes and overlap of the elements also require a high manual skill which shows also for the hidden part of mounts. Every single object is made from a handmade drawing on paper and then realised in plastics. The modern 3D print is only employed in the production of small technical components.

In September 2018 five collections inspired by some of the most famous italian locations (Villa d’Este, Spiaggia Rosa, Grotta Azzurra, Portofino and Bellagio) were shown in Singapore. All the collections are made in 18-carats gold. The Lab- CreatedGems, composed of jewels designed especially for the Far East tastes, are made with special attention to ethics and sustainability. “Unique” is a collection composed with one-of-a-kind pieces, among which the “Eclettica'' - a choker exhibited at Milano XL in 2017 during the Milan Fashion Week event “Il salotto delle gioie”; another notable one is the choker made for the contest “Jacopo da Trezzo 2017 – Un gioiello per Maria Teresa d’Austria”, with blue teardrop-shaped topaz and magnetic closures.

Annaratone was entrusted with the special design of an object for the organizers of “Operae 2017”, an independent design trade at Lingotto venue in Turin, in collaboration with an art dealer. The project for the item was named “Mar Mikhael '' by lebanese artist Carlo Massoud with the support of Carwan Gallery of Beirut. This is a big jewel box realised in silver and precious stones, depicting a fabulous and ironic view of the homonymous borough in Beirut - resulting in a jewel-sculpture of about four kilograms. This precious maquette (34x40 cm) is composed of three buildings, a street, and several figures of humans and animals, plants and objects - all realised as silver bijoux. The challenging work of art was made modelling a silver plate - this diverging this from the traditional techniques used in the company workshop. The designer requested the metal not to be rhodium plated, so that it would oxidize over time, as if it was a living thing. The work received approval by critics and was on display at Artissima Fair in Turin, at Fuori Salone in Milan, at Nomad in Sankt Moritz and on several other occasions in the United States, in Canada and in Libanon.

Annaratone also took part at some of the most important national and International trade fairs (e.g Vicenza, Arezzo, Las Vegas, Hong Kong) and the company works especially with foreign markets: their products are mainly sold in America, South Africa, Morocco, Turkey and Far East. In 2015 the Piemonte Region awarded the company with “Eccellenza artigiana”, an acknowledgement given for precious metals and gemstones industry.

Archive

The Annaratone company dedicated particular care to collecting and preserving documents and several materials belonging both to hand-crafted work and to historical familiar memory of Elisa’s father company of which many things are still preserved in the archive. This company’s archive could be defined “hybrid”: one part is digital the other is papery. The collection includes several models made in plastics on glass and on neck-shaped support, several gypsum, rubbers and waxes; everything is properly preserved and catalogued: some on paper registers, some on virtual ones. In the same way photographs, drafts and sketches dated between the ‘80s and the ‘90s were collected and preserved.

Sources

W. Fochesato, R. Massola, Gioielli su carta. Ricchezze dorate fra disegni e cartoline: da Valenza all’Italia, Interlinea, Novara 2018, drawing print on page 64