VO+: The 40 Years Book

“In 1983, global gold mining production amounted to 1,385 tonnes (1,337 in 1882). The jewelry industry used 779.4 tonnes and the Italian jewelry industry used 162 tonnes. Italy ranks first in the world in terms of precious metal transformation, a position it has held for several years.” “In the US, bachelors are not good jewelry customers, accounting for only 26% of sales, nor are the middle classes, who rank lower on the list than those with lower incomes.” To open this issue celebrating VO+'s first 40 years of history, I have chosen a couple of curious news items taken from the very first issue of Vicenzaoro magazine (the prodrome of VO+), showing how analyzing the market, trends and the way gold and jewelry is “consumed” in general, was already in its embryo stage, the seeds of which we then saw explode in the years to follow. The spirit and concept with which we have conceived and designed this very special September issue starts exactly from here. Conceived as a book divided into several chapters, one per decade, The Book takes you on a journey full of magical places, iconic characters, cult objects, curiosities... In a narrative style, halfway between an essay and a newspaper, it dwells on facts, oddities, products, styles that, thanks to the force with which they imposed themselves in the past, are now responsible for a renewed way of experiencing jewelry and enlivening the market. All this, with accurate and passionate research, brimming with images and special contributions from “friendly” voices, who have fully grasped the zeitgeist of our story. A timeless tale, like a real jewel handed down for eternity.