Women's
How It’s Made: Marina B Trisola Bangle
Marina Bulgari is the granddaughter of Sottiro Bulgari, founder of the renowned Italian jewelry company Bulgari. During her tenure at the family business, Marina created several of their enduring best-sellers. In 1978, she founded her own luxury brand, Marina B, designing an incredible succession of iconic and legendary jewelry.
Marina B Trisola bangle.
Over the next two decades Bulgari continued to design collections filled with eye-catching statement pieces that mixed classicism and modernity, and color and contrast. Bulgari’s jewelry was worn by an array of celebrities such as actress Sophia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor, Julia Roberts and Princess Grace. Although Bulgari stopped designing jewelry in 1996, her legacy of legendary work continued to live on with the relaunch of the brand in 2010.
“The spirit of Marina B lies in creating exclusive, innovative handmade jewelry with a distinct boldness of style and richness in color, while using the finest quality diamonds and gemstones. We pride ourselves in upholding only the highest possible standards of craftsmanship,” says Marina B CEO Paul Lubetsky.
The original Trisola bangle sketch.
Today, all of the jewelry is still handmade in Italy including rings and bangles in the Trisola collection (a collection originally started by Bulgari herself.) “We were delighted when we found the unfinished project at our atelier,” say Lubetsky. Our Italian workshop and our current design team worked in collaboration with our jewelers for over 9 months to complete the Trisola bangle and ring set.
The Trisola collection is made with a process of wrapping and interlocking strips of gold around a “die.” This process is known in Italy as “tubogas” and was pioneered by Marina Bulgari during her time as CEO of her family business. To this day, this process remains one of the most iconic examples of her legacy at Bulgari. This process is used in the Trisola collection, which according to Lubetsky, is one of the most challenging shapes ever attempted in “tubogas” work. There are thirteen steps to the process of completing one Trisola bangle.
See below as master jeweler Giuseppe creates a Trisola bangle at the factory in Italy.
Giuseppe melts gold, which is necessary to make "tubogas" stripes.
Giuseppe rolls the gold into the "tubogas" stripes.
Turning the "tubogas" on the Marina B shape by hand (a process that takes days to complete.)
Shaping the gold for the handmade components.
Final cleaning and polishing.
Marina B is available in select Neiman Marcus stores.
