Tag the Vibe With Francesca Amfitheatrof

After more than 20 years since her first collection, Francesca Amfitheatrof, the current creative director at Louis Vuitton Jewelry and Watches, launches her own brand, Thief and Heist. An irreverent way to experience jewelry


  •  Francesca Amfitheatrof, creative director for jewelry and watches at Louis Vuitton. Portrait by Jessy Duval.

    Francesca Amfitheatrof, creative director for jewelry and watches at Louis Vuitton. Portrait by Jessy Duval.

In the late Nineties, it was Karl Lagerfeld who fell in love with her Tag bracelets and asked her to make a catwalk version for the Fendi F/W 1999 collection. Now, after two decades in which jewelry seemed reluctant to drift away from its codes, while new independent stylistic trends were moving on, gnawing at the market share, Thief and Heist bracelets are opening a season of lightness and empathy. 
«I wanted to create something that would change the culture of jewelry and which would be irresistible at the same time for the period in which we are living. In its innovative, social, free and rebellious way of being jewelry, Thief and Heist draws inspiration from one of the most precious materials we possess: our experience,» admits Francesca Amfitheatrof, the creative mind and founder of “Tag” series one project, which re-interprets the concept of luxury by inverting it: it is what you do that counts, not what you have. «The Tag bracelet is a time capsule, a minimalist item that becomes part of you, it is on you, even where you are “bared”. It can remind you of a person or a place. It is there to capture an instant, it is inclusive, it is for everyone, it is accessible and permanent because you have to cut it to remove it. In short, it is perfect.» Francesca Amfitheatrof, the current creative director at Louis Vuitton Jewelry and Watches and already the author of the T Collection for Tiffany & Co., is launching her personal brand after about twenty years since the birth of her first Tag bracelet. A collection that aims to conciliate form, movement, construction, materials and feelings in a design concentrate consisting of a simple nylon band and cylindrical sterling silver clasp engraved with the $ logo. On sale exclusively online, at the moment the Tag bracelet is only available in black and white but it will be offered in different colors, various combinations or in bio-plastic later on, always with the drops-driven-direct to consumer formula. «I really borrow a lot from art and design because, as Picasso said, “all artists steal”. I want to amuse, surprise, intrigue. Jewelry must reveal its more ironic side and go beyond the seriousness of certain clichés. And the companies that safeguard artisan savoir faire will always be able to create magic and make us dream.»


The Designer
After graduating from Chelsea College of Arts, a degree at London’s Central St. Martins and a MA at the Royal College of Art in 1993 in London, Francesca Amfitheatrof met Alberto Alessi, and this was the beginning of a collaboration that has lasted 15 years. Some of the pieces that became cult items include FA01, the tray with fruit bowl, still a must have today. After an exhibition of jewels and vases at the White Cube Gallery in London, her work was noticed by Karl Lagerfeld and Giorgio Armani, who each commissioned vase collections from her. From 2010 to 2013, she was the head curator of the Museo Gucci in Florence; in 2014, she was the first woman design director at Tiffany & Co., and then, in 2018, she became creative director for jewelry and watches at Louis Vuitton.

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