Ivi Kyratzi's IVI: Jewelry Made With Italian Factory Craft

Ivi Kyratzi's IVI: Jewelry Made With Italian Factory Craft

Ivi Kyratzi, a Cypriot designer who trained at Parsons in New York, launched her namesake jewelry label IVI in Los Angeles in 2016 after meeting Italian manufacturer Gabriele Veneri, whose family has worked metal in Arezzo, Tuscany for generations. Every piece is still produced in Veneri's Arezzo factory, and the brand's first release, the Slot collection, remains its best-selling range nearly a decade later.

Collage of rings, earrings and layered necklaces worn up close, in the spirit of IVI

Jewelry

IVI's pitch has always been Italian factory craftsmanship applied to pieces meant for daily wear rather than special occasions, a gap Kyratzi says she noticed while working in Los Angeles before she ever met her manufacturing partner. The shapes here trace back to that original Slot collection logic: simple, stackable, built to be worn without much thought.

A good idea, well made

A California designer and a third-generation Tuscan metalworking family is an odd but effective pairing, and it shows in jewelry that feels more considered than most fast-turnaround fashion jewelry without pretending to be fine jewelry either. Nearly ten years in, IVI is still mostly repeating the idea that made the Slot collection work, which is a reasonable strategy when the idea was good. When IVI’s metalwork has me thinking about the details, I’d keep the mood going with rings, necklaces and charms, from everyday shapes to something a little more playful.