Cleto Munari, the "Father" of 250 Artistic Jewelries

«I am originally from Friuli, Gorizia to be precise, but I have mostly lived in Vicenza, the city of beauty and Andrea Palladio’s perfect proportions, but also the heart of one of Italy’s most important goldsmith districts, and that’s not all. The collection of over 250 pieces known as Cleto Munari Jewelry could only have been generated here by the hands of skilled master craftsmen. I feel a bit like one of them, a “workshop man”, or rather, as they say in Venice, a “serventino”, a term once used for the apprentices who worked at a master glassmaker's to learn the trade. That's kind of what I did when I created this collection, which, to all intents and purposes, is the collection that boasts the most outstanding designers in the world. It all started by chance in 1982 during a meeting with Michele De Lucchi, to whom I showed a pair of rings I had created for my wife. He designed another three or four that I put into production. Then came those of Ettore Sottsass and Carlo Scarpa, who had already been great friends of mine for a long time, Alessandro Mendini, Enzo Cucchi, Mimmo Paladino and the greatest American architects, including Richard Meier, Michael Graves and Frank Loyd Wright. Since then, countless exhibitions have been staged all over the world, but the greatest pride is having several pieces included in the permanent collections at Moma and Met in New York. So I too am a “serventino” who has given shape to the ideas and creativity of others, a bit like a publisher in search of best sellers. And I have done so imbued with the beauty and savoir-faire of Vicenza, where, during the same years, the trade show grew little by little with each edition. Now it is an unmissable event for those who want to be players in the world of jewelry, with editions exporting Made in Italy style and craftsmanship abroad. Exactly like my collection.»