Elsa Peretti (1940-2021) European/American, Small Tiffany & Co. Crystal Thumbprint Bowl. One of her most famous creations for the company, with a small pinched spot along the rim for easier carrying. Signed "Elsa Peretti, for Tiffany" on the base. 

Size: 7 x 7 x 3 in. 

Elsa Peretti was born on May 1st, 1940 in Florence, Italy, the daughter of a wealthy oil tycoon. She was educated in Rome and Switzerland and initially made her living teaching French and working as a ski instructor in the German-speaking Swiss mountain village of Gstaad. A chance meeting with a young artist inspired her to return to Rome to pursue a degree in interior design, after which she worked for the Milan architect Dado Torrigiani. In 1964 Peretti became a fashion model, working in Barcelona, Spain before moving to New York City in 1968 to become part of the designer Halston’s favorite troupe of models. In 1969 Peretti began creating silver jewelry styles for a handful of fashion designers in Manhattan, and by 1971 she was designing jewelry especially for Halston, receiving the Coty Award and appearing in Vogue magazine modeling her own wares. During the late 1970s Peretti was a frequent regular of Studio 54, and was romantically involved with the photographer Helmut Newton. In 1972 the landmark Bloomingdale’s opened a dedicated Peretti boutique, which led to a contract with Tiffany & Co. two years later. By 1979 she was the firm’s leading designer, designing over thirty collections for them with her revolutionary work leading to an explosion in silver jewelry across the country from other designers. Peretti also designed silverware and glassware for Tiffany, and continued to work with them right up until her death in her home in Catalonia, Spain on March 18th, 2021. She had tried to start an artists colony there, and created a successful vineyard as well as various philanthropic foundations to promote and nurture the visual arts and historic quality of the region. Her jewelry and design pieces for Tiffany & Co. are included in the collections of the British Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and she is still considered one of the most successful women in the field of jewelry who has ever lived.