As a child Elsa Peretti would visit the Church of Santa Maria della Concezame (Church of the Cappuccini) in Rome with her nanny. She had a habit of slipping one of the bones from the “subterranean chapel” into her pocket or purse. She described how she liked the way the bones felt in her hand. Invariably, Peretti’s mother would find the bones, reprimand her daughter, and send her to return them. That didn’t stop the young Peretti, instead it fueled her imagination. One of her earliest designs, the Bone Cuff, originated from this early experience. Peretti spent much of her adult life in Barcelona and the surrounding countryside where the design of Antonio Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia reminded Peretti of the stolen bones. Designed in a small, medium, and large size, this is the largest version and includes the split portion to evoke the space between the two arm bones. In Peretti’s own words she describes that, “my love of bones has nothing macabre about it…Things that are forbidden remain with you forever.”

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