Serafino Consoli: Under the Sign of Infinity
Ivan Consoli, CEO of the Bergamo-based company, talks about his philosophy as an entrepreneur, inspired by the desire to spark a “That's Wow!” reaction
What is the philosophy behind the Serafino Consoli brand?
We could say that the philosophy that governs all our choices is literally represented by the base. I am referring to our headquarters in Grumello del Monte, in the province of Bergamo: the building is in the shape of infinity because we wanted it to sum up ideas from quantum mechanics, Latin culture and the past, and ancient philosophical concepts, in a flow of ideas that would encourage everyone in the team to always look beyond existing reality and imagine new scenarios and technologies to create an unprecedented form of beauty. The type of product we make is a consequence of an extremely precise reasoning: never 'copy/paste', so to speak, and make something inspired by the work of other colleagues, which only leads to a déjà vu. Better to focus on our own identity, without being contaminated by the system, and follow our own path.
Where does this reasoning come from?
My background as an entrepreneur is quite unique: I went to art school in Valenza, then studied geology, and finally attended the GIA in New York. There is no jewelry background in my family, unless as a retailer. In 1959, my father Serafino - now 83 years old and honorary president - opened a store in Bergamo, where I was able to come into contact with the end consumer, managing to understand their real needs and requests in relation to what was still missing on the market. This was my real marketing and production school and it was there that I realized that a company exists when it has its own identity, when it is unlike any other.
What are the skills that characterize your products today?
First and foremost, we identify ourselves with having invented the multi-size, the ring that can be sized without being sized. In the sense that, despite having no springs, it can cover 25 numbers. Our globally unique and patented mechanism is a tiny revolution in the jewelry world. Marketing often exploits the concept of “something that wasn't there before” but sometimes, it's just a propaganda claim. In our case it really is true because there actually was nothing like it before. It consists of micromechanical solutions made up of hundreds of components and thousands of soldered joints, particularly in the case of the Brevetto collection, based on the concept of multi-size for rings, pendants, crosses... The Serafino collection, on the other hand, focuses on the idea of transforming a ring into a bracelet and vice versa, two items of jewelry in one, a perfect partner for a woman at various times of the day.
The short and long-term prospects?
We are a relatively young company, established in 2013, but we have been devising and designing jewelry that respects the mission of “That's Wow!” since 2003 and, if we add the previous "chapter" of my father Serafino's activity, we can say that the brand dates back to 1959. Today the average age of our employees is 38/40 years old: I like to choose my collaborators according to what they dream of doing in life. Nobody is here just to do his job. We are all projected towards something new that we want to study and discover together. We have no subcontractors, everything that bears our trademark is made in house, from the management algorithms to the final touches on the jewelry. In spite of the two terrible years that we have just gone through, we have not suffered any losses. On the contrary, we are expanding, and we are particularly consolidating the markets of Northern Europe and the USA. We want to continue on this path, make a name for ourselves in the States and acquire that recognizability that makes the difference.
