{"id":35766,"date":"2026-04-06T09:43:35","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T04:13:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gjepc.org\/solitaire\/?p=35766"},"modified":"2026-04-11T11:05:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T05:35:32","slug":"amedeo-scognamiglio-creating-beyond-convention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gjepc.org\/solitaire\/amedeo-scognamiglio-creating-beyond-convention\/","title":{"rendered":"Amedeo Scognamiglio: Creating Beyond Convention!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Diving into Amedeo Scognamiglio\u2019s world reveals an unbridled mind\u2014fearless and instinctive. Drawing from the cultures he has inhabited and his deeply rooted Italian heritage, his pursuit remains singular: to create high jewellery as art.<\/em><\/p>\n

On one hand, he reinterprets and elevates his sixth-generation legacy of cameo carving; on the other, he<\/em> channels his cross-cultural sensibility into pieces that invite personalisation. Narratives lend heft to his creations, and his strong foundation in master craftsmanship enables him to juggle brands that are diverse in nature and design. His quest is to stay constantly stay current, and provocatively reimagining legacy for now! <\/em><\/p>\n

Over to the maestro \u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

You wear many creative hats \u2014 master cameo carver, co-founder of Faraone Mennella, and founder of your own brand, AMEDEO. How do you balance these different creative identities, and what keeps you energised across them?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Honestly? Most days it doesn\u2019t feel like balancing anything. I\u2019ve always been either in the workshop carving for AMEDEO, or with Roberto (co-founder of Faraone Mennella) on a call with our artisans arguing about whether a clasp should be architectural or fluid. They\u2019re different muscles\u2014one is solitary and obsessive; the other is collaborative and fast. The variety keeps me from becoming one of those artists who secretly hates their own work after thirty years.<\/p>\n

You began carving cameos at a young age, working in your basement workshop. Looking back, how did those early experiences shape your artistic instincts and your connection with the craft?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t have \u2018artistic instincts\u2019 as a child. I had sore fingers and a lot of ruined shells. My father would pull something out of my hands and say, \u2018You rushed.\u2019 And he was right. The shell doesn\u2019t care about your deadline. It\u2019s hydrostatic calcium\u2014one wrong angle and it cracks. I learned that lesson hundreds of times before I learned anything about design. But that frustration became useful. Now I can look at a rough shell and feel where the image lives in it. That\u2019s not an instinct. That\u2019s just repetition.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Sculpted from Cassis Madagascariensis, this cameo pendant, Mystic Queen: The Power Within, blends gothic and neoclassical influences. Crafted in 18-karat gold and sterling silver with a black rhodium finish, it is accented with brown diamonds, blue and pink sapphires, Australian opals, and tsavorite. Every detail is thoughtfully composed\u2014brought to life over 210 hours of meticulous craftsmanship. (c) AMEDEO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You come from a sixth-generation family of cameo carvers from Torre del Greco. How has this deep lineage influenced the way you approach jewellery design today?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I remember visiting my father\u2019s vault in our Torre del Greco factory and seeing my great-grandfather\u2019s name in a ledger from 1892. That was … strange, thrilling, but also claustrophobic. Because now you\u2019re not just making objects, you\u2019re carrying something. But I\u2019ve learned that tradition isn\u2019t a contract you inherit\u2014it\u2019s a conversation you choose to join. If I only repeated what my ancestors made, I\u2019d be honouring their hands but betraying their curiosity. They were experimenting with gas lamps and new tools in their time. I do the same with my tools.<\/p>\n

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Titled Italian Garden, this striking creation evokes the lush poetry of nature in full bloom. Crafted in 18-karat gold and titanium, it is centred on a vivid tourmaline cabochon, enhanced by vibrant green tourmalines and accents of diamonds. The composition feels organic yet sculptural\u2014like a garden captured in motion. \u00a9 Faraone Mennella<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You co-founded Faraone Mennella with Roberto Faraone Mennella, blending Italian design heritage with the bold energy of New York. How did this cross-cultural environment shape the aesthetic and identity of the brand?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We arrived in 1996 with big dreams, fancy ideas, and no budget. Roberto went to study Design at Parsons School; and I was still figuring out the subway and selling my father\u2019s cameos where I could. But New York in that era was hungry for Italian craft, and Italian craft was hungry for New York\u2019s irreverence.<\/p>\n

We\u2019d be at a gallery opening one night, and the next morning I\u2019d be trying to translate that energy into a brooch. The city made us faster. In Italy, a collection might gestate for three seasons. In New York, someone asks, \u2018Can you have it Tuesday?\u2019 and you say yes, then figure out how.<\/p>\n

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The Celeste Halo necklace captures the magic of Capri\u2019s horizon\u2014where sea meets sky in a sweep of deep, luminous blue. Its motifs are set with a striking London blue topaz, glowing with intensity and encircled by a radiant halo of white diamonds. Accents of blue and pink sapphires lend a gentle contrast, while cabochon rhodolites soften the composition with depth and light. Sculptural yet fluid, this high jewellery creation is an ode to serenity, brilliance, and timeless beauty. \u00a9 Faraone Mennella<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With AMEDEO, you have reimagined the ancient art of cameo carving, often introducing unexpected motifs and contemporary references. What inspired you to challenge the traditional boundaries of cameo jewellery?<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I started, cameos were either grandmother\u2019s heirlooms or museum pieces. Beautiful, but sealed behind glass. I remember thinking: Why is the skull forbidden?<\/em> The Greeks carved skulls. But somehow the 20th century sanitised everything into pastoral profiles. Once I realised the shell was just a surface\u2014like canvas or marble\u2014the question became: what shouldn\u2019t I carve?<\/em> The answer was: nothing. Pop culture, tattoo motifs, photorealistic pets. The medium doesn\u2019t care about our categories.<\/p>\n

Your creations often feel like miniature works of art \u2014 sometimes classical, sometimes playful or even gothic. How important is storytelling in the way you design jewellery?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I once carved a cameo for a client whose father had died. She wanted his portrait, but she also wanted something he used to say to her\u2014\u2018Keep swimming\u2019\u2014hidden in the background. So, I carved tiny fish scales into the shell layers behind his shoulder. You can barely see them unless you know how to look. That\u2019s what I mean by storytelling. It\u2019s not always a narrative you explain; sometimes it\u2019s a secret the wearer carries. The piece becomes a conversation between the wearer and the object.<\/p>\n

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The earrings, Rose Within, are expressed through 40mm hand-carved carnelian shell cameos, where a rose emerges from within\u2014intimate and expressive. Set in sterling silver with a soft rose rhodium finish, the pair is accented with tsavorites, green amethyst, and a 5-carat opal cabochon. (c) AMEDEO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Many collectors are drawn to the deeply personal nature of your bespoke cameo portraits. In today\u2019s luxury landscape, how important is personalisation in jewellery design?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have clients who own dozens of pieces from major houses. Stunning work. But they\u2019ll say to me, \u2018This is the only thing I own that nobody else has.\u2019 Spike Lee, for example. And they don\u2019t mean rarity, they mean recognition. A bespoke portrait captures a specific nose, a particular dog\u2019s lopsided ear, the exact way someone\u2019s hair falls. That\u2019s not customisation. That\u2019s memory made solid. The word \u2018exclusive\u2019 has been so abused it barely means anything anymore. What people want now is something genuinely theirs.<\/p>\n

You have also experimented with unexpected formats \u2014 even incorporating cameos into streetwear accessories such as baseball caps. What excites you about pushing traditional craftsmanship into new cultural contexts?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The baseball cap thing started as a joke, honestly. I had this carved skull cameo, very baroque, and I stuck it on a cap to annoy my studio manager, Anna. But then I photographed it, and the contrast worked. It was ridiculous\u2014in a good way. Sixteenth-century technique, twenty-first-century streetwear. The tension wakes people up. I\u2019ve also embedded cameos into furniture, into chess sets and architectural panels. Each time you move a craft into a new context, you test whether it actually has life, or if it\u2019s just nostalgia. So far, it\u2019s holding up.<\/p>\n

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Titled Luxury, the brilliant cuff is a celebration of light, colour, and Italian artistry. Set in 18-karat gold, this creation contrasts the brilliance of icy white diamonds with the warmth of yellow sapphires and the deep, shifting hues of amethyst and ametrine. The interplay of tones feels both radiant and refined, creating a piece that is bold yet effortlessly elegant. \u00a9 Faraone Mennella<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As one of the judges for the Artisan Awards, what was your overall impression of the entries this year? Were there any ideas or techniques that particularly stood out?<\/strong><\/p>\n

What stayed with me most was how seriously everyone took the craft. In the micropainting pieces, you could see designers turning tiny surfaces into whole little worlds\u2014full of detail, but still elegant and wearable, not \u201clook\u2011 what\u2011 I\u2011 can\u2011 \u2011do\u201d showoffs.<\/p>\n

In the \u2011embroidery-inspired work, I loved when metal started behaving like fabric. When filigree and jali became \u201cthreads\u201d and the pieces actually draped and moved on the body, you felt that couture attitude came through in a very fresh way. That\u2019s when jewellery stops being just ornament and starts to feel like clothing you happen to cast in gold.<\/p>\n

And in Poetic Layers, there was a clear desire to make jewellery a small, secret universe\u2014things that open, rotate, hide portraits or messages, and reveal themselves slowly.<\/p>\n

As a judge but also as a colleague, it\u2019s exciting to see a generation that isn\u2019t satisfied with just making something pretty; they want it smart, emotional, and a little bit unexpected. I recognis\u2011e that impulse very well.<\/p>\n

Across your career, you have balanced heritage, craftsmanship and experimentation. What advice would you give young jewellery designers who are trying to honour tradition while still finding their own voice?<\/strong><\/p>\n

My father never let me design anything for the first two years. I hated him for it. Now I tell young designers the same thing: spend five years learning how to make things properly before you decide to reinvent them. I know…five years sound like forever when you\u2019re twenty. But if you don\u2019t know why a rule exists, you can\u2019t break it intelligently, you\u2019re just guessing. When I started carving contemporary subjects, like monkeys and skulls, I didn\u2019t do it because I couldn\u2019t do classical. I did it because I\u2019d done classical for years and was bored with lady profiles and birds. That boredom was earned. Young designers should chase that earned boredom.<\/p>\n

If you had to define the future of luxury jewellery, what qualities do you believe will matter the most?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Longevity. Not in the marketing sense\u2014in the literal sense. People are buying less but buying better. They want to know that in fifty years, someone will still be wearing this. That means honest materials, construction that can be repaired, and design that won\u2019t feel dated. The jewellery that survives this moment won\u2019t be the loudest or the most expensive. It\u2019ll be the most considered.<\/p>\n

My happiest moments are those when I accidentally spot a lady in Capri or on Madison Avenue wearing a pair of Faraone Mennella earrings or an AMEDEO ring from 15 years ago. Mission accomplished!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Diving into Amedeo Scognamiglio\u2019s world reveals an unbridled mind\u2014fearless and instinctive. Drawing from the cultures he has inhabited and his deeply rooted Italian heritage, his pursuit remains singular: to create high jewellery as art. On one hand, he reinterprets and elevates his sixth-generation legacy of cameo carving; on the other, he channels his cross-cultural sensibility…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":35767,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[88,99],"tags":[],"thb-sponsors":[],"class_list":["post-35766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists-desk","category-design"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAmedeo Scognamiglio: Creating Beyond Convention! - Solitaire magazine is a International jewellery magazine - India\u2019s leading B2B gem and jewellery magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow\" \/>\n<meta name=\"googlebot\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"bingbot\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gjepc.org\/solitaire\/amedeo-scognamiglio-creating-beyond-convention\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Amedeo Scognamiglio: Creating Beyond Convention! - Solitaire magazine is a International jewellery magazine - India\u2019s leading B2B gem and jewellery magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Diving into Amedeo Scognamiglio\u2019s world reveals an unbridled mind\u2014fearless and instinctive. 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