Gem set and diamond brooch
Estimate £5,500–6,500
"Without lightness you can't live well: the joy is too intense, the greatest pain softened thanks to small gestures: a smile, a caress..."
Blue topaz and diamond ring, Michele della Valle
Estimate £3,000–4,000
"The boat is my home in the summer. Even when the sun beats hard, and I feel like singing an operatic romance, the intense blue of the sky, and the blue of the sea... I can't look at myself without feeling a bit nostalgic. A happy nostalgia, in love, where colors and scents change continuously."
Orange and yellow sapphire pendant, Michele della Valle
Estimate £4,000–6,000
"The sun warms our skin even when the heart is warm. From first thing in the morning, it is the engine that allows us to see the beauty of our days. It is the light that emanates, and the house to which we all return..."
Pair of amethyst, blue topaz and diamond earrings, Michele della Valle
Estimate £4,000–6,000
"As a child, I loved science fiction movies and spent the nights imagining distant planets, where mysteriously coloured twin moons rise and set on iridescent seas."
Gem set, diamond and black diamond bangle, Michele della Valle
Estimate £12,000–15,000
"Bees swarm among lavenders and poppies in the warm light of a spring afternoon in Puccianello. The honey will drift from the cells of the hive, like the juice of imprisoned sunshine."
Emerald, ruby and diamond brooch, Michele della Valle
Estimate £4,000–6,000
"I am obsessed with this mysterious animal, formerly considered a lunar symbol. It is a recurring subject in my work. I have always found the carapace fascinating. It looks like a jewel always on display."
Gem set and diamond demi-parure, Michele della Valle
Estimate £10,000–15,000
"Today, young people in love express their happiness with padlocks marked with their initials. We thought that love was freedom, and also adventure. A game that makes you want to run and go far."
Michele della Valle's bespoke jewelry is often evocative of the colours and shapes of the natural world. As an exclusive online sale of his eye-catching pieces opens, the poetic jeweler picks his favourite lots, and muses on the wonders of the sea, sun and solar system that have inspired his work with unconventional gem stones.