Diego Percossi Papi
Diego Percossi Papi was born in Rome in 1946. While enrolled in the faculty of architecture, after completing classical studies, he turned to art, sculpture and jewellery making, learning on his own with the true spirit and freedom of a Renaissance craftsman.
Percossi Papi opened his studio in Rome in 1968, near the Pantheon. His pieces were marked by a clear-cut signature style, employing traditional precious gems and metals and cloisonné enamel techniques that today have become the hallmark of the family brand. The studio is renowned for the creation of personalised pieces, whose limited production only adds to their irresistible appeal, along with precious objects of both sacred and secular art.
His work is a personal journey of historical exploration, based unfailingly on three key principles—the emotion aroused by colours, the symbol evoked by memory and historical roots, and the extemporaneousness of creation. He has crafted jewellery for films directed by Wertmüller, Taviani, Monicelli, and Olmi and for actresses such as Sophia Loren, Jacqueline Bisset, Isabelle Huppert, and Cate Blanchett.
Major exhibitions in recent years have included: “La Maestà, le Contrade: ori di Siena”, 2015, Palazzo Pubblico, Siena; “Fantasie dalla memoria” (Fancies of Memory) 2004, Palazzo Venezia, Rome; “Diaghilev PS”, 2009, Russian Museum of Ethnography, St. Petersburg; “Le rêve italien de la maison de Luxembourg par les bijoux de Percossi Papi”, 2013, Luxembourg.
He has been a judge on several occasions in international jewellery competitions in St. Petersburg and Beijing.
Awards and Honours
- 2002
Awarded the title Cavaliere al merito della Repubblica Italiana. - 2007
Master Goldsmith at the University and Noble College of Goldsmiths. - 2013
Honorary Professor of the Pontifical Academy of Fine Arts and Letters of the Virtuosi at the Pantheon.