Elsa Peretti connects with the essence of Barcelona society

Stefano Palumbo is a vital and restless Italian member of the board of directors of the Nando and Elsa Peretti Foundation, along with Peter Schwendinger and Kurt Moosmann, founded in 2000 by the very model-jeweler-artist who captivated Tiffany's and revolutionized female aesthetics in the 70s.

Closely linked to Barcelona and Catalonia, the foundation collaborates with a large number of cultural and social projects, following Peretti's strong involvement and appreciation for our city and this land. In Barcelona, there was a time when expats got involved and put down roots. This interview aims to reclaim this way of opening up the city, and opening up people, instead of stripping them of their personality.

--- How many Elsa Perettis are there?

--- There are many, just as there are many missions in our foundation. There's Peretti the designer, the one from the Gauche Divine, the one from Studio 54, the philanthropist, the jeweler... We're talking about the iconic model of artistic woman from the 70s who was eclectic, multidisciplinary, curious. That's why we wanted to create foundation statutes that were open enough, broad enough, so that its activity would not be limited. People's demands are very diverse and a window open to the maximum needs was necessary. The environment, women, the Roma cause, theater, people with special needs... If it were directed at only one thing, it wouldn't be the Elsa Peretti Foundation!

--- An open foundation, then.

--- In the Roma culture, with which we collaborate through the Pere Closa foundation, they know that women dance with their legs open. Like in childbirth.

--- And men...

--- Men, like scarecrows. You know.

--- And it all begins in the 70s.

--- The 70s can still be seen in every piece of Elsa's jewelry sold at Tiffany's, in every self-produced object, and these are years that still weigh on Catalan society. The essence of a person is forged during childhood, we are all artists then, we create our universe. But then, when youth arrives, this universe materializes and expands: imagine in '66, when Elsa meets Oriol Maspons (who has her in his modeling agency in Milan) and he sends her to Portlligat for a session. She didn't know where she was going, although the understanding with Maspons was immediate. He dresses her in Paco Rabanne, takes her out of an egg from Dalí's house, Dalí talks to her... She was only 26 years old!

--- And then?

--- Then she arrives in Barcelona, and her father asks his friend Albert Puig Palau to take care of her. He takes her to the theater, where she would meet Serena Vergano, where this actress played the role of Gala Dalí in the play Vador. Dalí de Gala. With Vergano, she meets another Italian, Anna Maio, in a situation similar to hers. The fact is that a group was formed with Bofill, with Corberó... She discovers a small world, and begins to model in Barcelona. With many difficulties, since at that time the image of Barbie was sought more, and not a modern figure like hers. But then she decides to buy a blonde wig, to be able to work, and she takes a series of photos (which today are in the MNAC) with Oriol Maspons and with Colita. They serve her to create her book. You don't recognize her, but it works!

--- And with this book she goes to New York.

--- With the same modeling agency, yes. And then it's another Elsa. We are in the year 70 or 71, and the success is such that you might think "and why did she return to Barcelona? Why didn't she return to Rome?"

--- And why did she return to Barcelona? And why didn't she return to Rome?

--- She considered Barcelona her home, the point of return. New York was for showing off and for putting into practice, but Barcelona was for thinking and creating!

--- Bruc 14.

--- Bruc 14, and then the house in Sant Martí Vell.

--- Which was extended to a good part of the town.

--- Yes, throughout her life the will was "let the world come here."

--- And love came with Corberó.

--- Love with Corberó blossomed immediately. It is he who teaches her to work with metal. In fact, she doesn't start as a jeweler but as a sculptor. If you look closely, we can almost always talk about sculptures, not just jewelry. And she begins to work in a workshop in Gràcia, with Mr. Costas and Mr. Abad, and at Tiffany's they are so interested that they even come to the workshop to make sure that the works are hers. She financed the metal herself, and almost always used silver. She did it when no one used it in jewelry. A silver that melts, that drips, like Dalí's dreams or Gaudí's stones.

--- And then success explodes.

--- She makes jewelry for Giorgio di Sant'Angelo and for Halston, signed as Elsa Peretti. Halston was the one who decided to take her himself to Tiffany's to explain that they needed to take an artistic step forward, look for different clients, understand that women had changed. Halston and Elsa had very similar, very complementary styles. And then people would gather in very long lines in front of the Tiffany's store on Fifth Avenue, and that's when Andy Warhol came over to say "it's the first time I've seen people queuing to buy diamonds."

--- The woman of the 70s no longer wanted to be a little princess.

--- Elsa was never explicitly feminist like Colita, even though they were like sisters. Her feminism is more subtle, more limited to showing a work and style. An attitude. In fact, Elsa Peretti was deeply concerned about not being understood as an artist and as a woman. Her family judged her for being a single woman, an artist, without lifelong friends... And it wasn't that easy to impose the new trend on a house as classic as Tiffany's either! But Elsa prevailed, succeeded, and made her aesthetic understood. She made herself understood.

--- But you direct the Nando and Elsa Peretti Foundation. Tell us how you see Barcelona and Catalonia.

--- The foundation was born in 2000, adding her father's name, Nando. This specific foundation deals with everything related to Elsa's connection with Barcelona and Catalonia. Personally, when I arrived in Barcelona, I was lost. I must say that Catalonia, at first glance, doesn't embrace you. Thanks to Elsa Peretti, in a sense, I have been able to discover the wonder that it is. Year 2001, Ronda de Sant Pere, without knowing anyone. Her friends helped me understand the meaning of everything; everything she did had some connection with Catalonia. There is always a Barcelonian hardcore: the hydraulic floors of the Eixample, the architectural beauty, the refinement of that bourgeoisie, the Catalan essence, this artisanal sense in everything... Think that most of the craftsmanship behind Peretti's works is Catalan craftsmanship. Many artisans have worked for her without knowing it.

--- And what are you working on now?

--- We focus a lot on philanthropic activity: we collaborate with the Palau de la Música, with the Aura foundation for the labor inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities, now we are also involved with the millennium of Montserrat...

--- The millennium? Also?

--- Yes. You know Elsa's obsession with "Montserrat blue," that of the farmhouse doors, made from heated plaster. It was the main color of the virgin, and Elsa sought several versions through the fusion of plaster and lime. And when I hear about the millennium, I decide we must be there, we talk to the abbot and we contribute. Specifically, in the repair of part of the abbey. We are also evaluating a project with the Sagrada Família, for the centenary of Gaudí's death.

The 70s can still be seen in every piece of Elsa's jewelry sold at Tiffany's--- And the gypsies, you were saying.

--- It's curious that here they are called gypsies, in the rest of the world (or at least in Italy) we call them Roma. When I was in La Mina for the first time, I saw a very different situation from other gypsy communities in Europe: here they are much more integrated and dignified. The Pere Closa foundation works on aspects such as school failure, the risk of social exclusion... We collaborate with them because Elsa always admired the gypsy way of life, half libertarian, half nomadic. And she was also in love with Carmen Amaya (who said "I am gypsy and also Catalan"), as was Colita. On the other hand, we want to work with the Albanian gypsy community, which is a very different case.

--- You are the ambassador of the Order of Malta in Albania.

--- Exactly, yes. Towards the end of the 15th century, George Castriota Skanderbeg, Albanian national hero, asked King Alfonso V, of the Aragonese crown, for help in his fight against the Ottoman Empire. So much so that Skanderberg's family, upon his death, was welcomed into the Kingdom of Naples, where Albanian communities of the first diaspora still exist today.

--- I had no idea. Nor about the case of the Albanian gypsies.

--- Being ambassador of the Order of Malta in Albania allows me to know this case closely. After the Ottoman Empire, Albanian gypsies were affected by the communist system like all Albanians, and after communism, the country's economic crisis hit them hard. As I pointed out, these are very different situations.

--- And we still face it differently, I want to think.

--- Here you face the issue of migratory movements differently than in Italy. In fact, we also collaborate with the Intercultural Association Diàlegs de Dona, from Raval, which has now become one of the largest in Spain and offers Catalan courses, reading and writing courses, safe places to allow women to develop safely and without suffering sexist violence.

--- And as you also said, Aura, the Palau, the Akademia theater...

--- We look for projects linked to the city. Practical, as Catalans are. You have a very practical language, very direct, very to the point. Like English.

--- Ah.

--- And as for the Akademia theater, it was always Elsa's idea. Free expression, freedom of movement. Before it was a parking lot. Now we want to take a step forward, with a project that continues to scrupulously respect Catalan identity. I remind you that Elsa helped translate theatrical works into Catalan that, without her, would never have been translated. Like Full Gallop, the famous Broadway one woman show, which was translated as Al Galop and which Elsa promoted with Carme Elias acting and Guido Torlonia directing. It was a success!.

--- Has all this already been recognized for Elsa Peretti?

--- With the National Culture Award, yes; the Creu de Sant Jordi, not yet.

--- They are late. We are late.

--- Right now, with Professor Laura Cornejo, we are devising a documentary called Elsa i Catalunya, starting from a conversation that Colita and I had. The Peretti Foundation wants to leave such a document and I am convinced that Elsa would have dreamed of it.