Buccellati Brings Retrospective to Shanghai Highlighting Craftsmanship, Family Legacy

A decade after entering Mainland China, Buccellati will stage a retrospective exhibition in Shanghai beginning Sunday until Jan. 5.

The exhibit is a new leg of “The Prince of Goldsmiths. Buccellati Rediscovering the Classics” that was unveiled in Venice in April 2024, but with four additional rooms. The title stems from the moniker poet Gabriele D’Annunzio gave to the late founder of the brand, Mario Buccellati, in 1936 for his superior skills and craftsmanship.

Chief executive officer Nicolas Luchsinger joined Buccellati in April 2024 from Van Cleef & Arpels, so he said in an interview that the exhibition coincided with his own introduction.

After showing in Venice during the Biennale, he said the retrospective was “very successful and we decided right away that it had to travel.” This can be challenging, he contended, because of the need for expansive spaces and because many locations and museums are booked a long time in advance. “We looked at every opportunity in the United States, in the Middle East, and China, where we found this great location,” he said of the Shanghai Exhibition Center.

“I was always impressed by its grand architecture,” he mused.

The building was erected in 1955 and marked the alliance between China and the Soviet Union. It is a major landmark in Shanghai, one of the largest integrated building complexes in the center of the city, with an elaborate central tower and a colonnade and is close to Nanjing Road, one of the premier retail and commercial streets of Shanghai. This positioning also makes it “easier for our clients to come and see the exhibition,” said Luchsinger.

He said Shanghai was selected rather than other cities in China because he believes it “is still the commercial capital for the country. It’s where East meets West, and it has all this tradition in architecture and decorative arts.”