Florentine engraving originated during the Renaissance in Florence, when goldsmiths engraved designs on copper plates and precious metals to decorate jewellery, picture frames and weapons. This craft later evolved into two forms of brushed finishing: rigato (seta) and damasco. Rigato creates a silky sheen by cutting hundreds or thousands of parallel fine lines with a burin, brands like Buccellati use this technique to give gold pieces the look and feel of silk or damask fabric. Damasco imitates damask patterns—engravers improvise scrolling and geometric lines to produce fabric‑like patterns and interplay of light and shade. This technique demands high manual skill and often employs chemical colouring to bring out its complex texture.

My designs carry forward both of these traditional techniques. I use the Florentine engraving’s “silk ground” as a backdrop and layer damasco‑style floral or geometric scrollwork on top so that the metal surface has both a soft, silky sheen and a three‑dimensional pattern. To meet customers’ individual requirements, I offer customization services. In the Album Box collection, for example, I shrink a traditional photo album into a pendant sized for a necklace and decorate its exterior with rigato engraving. In this way I both preserve the historical lineage of Florentine craftsmanship and create one‑of‑a‑kind pieces imbued with personal meaning for my clients.