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From an eccentric Sicilian noble family, Fulco di Verdura started designing jewels for Coco Chanel and Paul Flato in Paris and New York before opening his own firm on Fifth Avenue in 1939.
Innovative, he broke with fashion to create whimsical large jewels with coloured stones, both precious and semi-precious, set in yellow gold. From his Sicilian childhood, he kept a luxuriant inner world which inspired his jewels' designs. He was also inspired by Byzantine patterns - which gives the Coco Chanel's famous Maltese cross cuffs - and by America's wildness and freedom. In 1941, he collaborated with Salvador Dali on a jewellery line.
He was quickly granted by the New York café society, the fashion world and the Hollywood stars such as Marlene Dietrich, Joan Fontaine or Greta Garbo. He retired in 1973 and sold his business to his associate Joseph Alfano who sold it to Ward Landrigan, a former head of Sotheby's USA Jewellery department, in 1985. Since then, Landrigan keeps alive Verdura's bold and lively spirit.