Nudo By Pomellato Celebrates Its 20th Anniversary

Nudo, the story of an icon.

The perfectly simple design of the Nudo by Pomellato celebrates its 20th anniversary.

Twenty years ago the arrival of the trail-blazing Nudo ring revolutionised the world of jewellery. Born in Milan, the Nudo’s brilliantly novel premise was to dare to stand out as a ring reduced to its essence in an enticing rainbow of joyfully bright colours, challenging the traditional diamond engagement ring. Since that seminal moment in 2001, the Nudo has enjoyed an enduring success and its minimalist silhouette has become Pomellato’s signature design. As one of the first rings expressly designed to be stacked, the Nudo made personalisation easy and spontaneous. Today the Nudo’s timeless form is recognised the world over thanks to the strength of its visual purity, the ever-changing range of vivid colours and its inherently tactile appeal.

Nudo, meaning nude or bare in Italian, was born out of a desire to create something different from the trend for large, ostentatious jewellery prevalent at the time. The first brave Nudo rings in 2001 featured the vibrant hues of garnet, aquamarine, peridot, iolite and red tourmaline. This genius coming together of enticing colours with the very best of Milanese design was a winning combination and the Nudo rings instantly sold out. This captivating newcomer offered an intense and pure solitaire of colour that appeared to float in the air thanks to a fixing-system concealed inside the collet at the base of each stone.

Breaking convention in every way, the solitaire was square and the top of the stone had a distinctive asymmetrical, soft faceting. This unique Nudo cut is an adaptation of a cabochon shape onto which skilled gem-cutters hand cut 57 irregular facets into its surface. What’s more, to perfectly execute the clean lines of the Nudo, it takes the craftsmen and women at Pomellato’s Milan atelier four days to make by hand a Classic size Nudo ring. Such has been the success of the Nudo that Pomellato has international copyright on the both its design and the cut.

Over the years, the rebellious Nudo has continued to reveal new concepts of preciousness and to date there have been 35 different gems set in these jewels. A dedicated team of gem-hunters scours the world to share the unexpected beauty of unusual gems such as prasiolite, pink quartz and sky blue topaz as well as favourites including aquamarine, amethyst and tourmaline. The gemmological team goes even further and explores exciting effects such as gemstone doublets and triplets and finishes like the new frosty Nudo Gelé to be able to offer tones beyond Nature’s own colour palette. The women who have been drawn to Nudo are as individual and free-spirited as the design itself. From Tilda Swinton and Salma Hayek to Cate Blanchett and Jane Fonda, Lupita Nyong’o and Amanda Seyfried, the unconventional beauty of Nudo has been the perfect match for strong women who together have created the spirit of the Pomellato sisterhood.

CEO of Pomellato Sabina Belli says: “Nudo epitomises the revolutionary approach of Pomellato, born to create prêt-à-porter jewels for the emancipated woman. Nudo is quintessentially feminine, strikingly original and the perfect yet ironic answer to the solitaire ring as well as being inclusive in the array of naked gems it uses. Nudo is a true icon, powerful in the minimalism of its design yet multifaceted and honest, just like the Pomellato women.”

Though virtually unchanged since the very first version, the rings now come in four sizes. Ever moving forward on its creative journey, the range has expanded and today the Nudo family is composed of 150 items. The first Nudo pendant arrived in 2016, then in 2018 a bracelet was unveiled that was followed by a sautoir in 2019.

It was in 2020 that Nudo entered the world of high jewellery with the dazzling La Gioia collection. Nudo is Pomellato’s shining star that over two decades has not just stood the test of time but grown to embody the design philosophy of the house.

Vincenzo Castaldo, Creative Director of Pomellato, who keeps the light of Nudo burning bright, says: ‘There are so many of our passions, desires and intuitions in the Nudo, and it is such an important actor on the Pomellato stage, so extraordinary with its presence and strength, that Nudo is the very essence of Pomellato.’

Since then, its playful irreverence continues to appeal to the independentminded, fashionable Pomellato woman, confident to embrace the unorthodox Nudo attitude by wearing the most elegant symbol of empowerment.