Bulgari

Bulgari (/ˈbʊlɡəri/, Italian: [ˈbulɡari]; stylized as BVLGARI) is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in 1884 and known for its jewellery, watches, fragrances, accessories, and leather goods. Headquartered in Rome, the company was acquired by the French conglomerate LVMH in 2011, thus becoming one of the latter's subsidiaries.

The silversmith and founder of the company Sotirios Voulgaris (Greek: Σωτήριος Βούλγαρης, Italian: Sotirio Bulgari) began his career as a jewellery vendor at his family's shop in Ottoman Epirus (now in Greece). During the 1880s, the family moved to Rome, where in 1884 Sotirios launched his company. Over the years, Bulgari became an international brand, evolving into a notable player in the luxury market, with an established network of stores worldwide. While the majority of design, production and marketing is overseen and executed by Bulgari, the company does, at times, partner with other entities. For example, Bulgari eyewear is produced through a licensing agreement with Luxottica, and Bulgari formed a joint venture with Marriott International in 2001 to launch its hotel brand, Bulgari Hotels & Resorts, a collection of properties and resort destinations around the world.

The trademark of the company, usually written BVLGARI in the classical Latin alphabet, is derived from the surname of the company's founder, Sotirios Voulgaris (Greek: Σωτήριος Βούλγαρης, pronounced [soˈtiri.os ˈvulɣaris]; 1857–1932).

The BVLGARI logo was used for the first time in 1934, when its gilded brass letters graced the central doorway of the Via Condotti flagship store. In reference to ancient Rome, the "U" was replaced with the letter "V". Since then, the trademark is stylized BVLGARI in the classical Latin alphabet.

The Voulgaris were a silversmithing family from the Ottoman-ruled village of Paramythia, Epirus (now part of Greece). Whether or not they share the same paternal line with the Voulgaris family of Corfu is unclear, but Count Stefanos Voulgaris denied that the two are genealogically related. According to chronicles of the Voulgaris family written in Venetian Corfu, the Voulgaris family of Saint Spyridon of Corfu descended from the royal figures of "barbarian" peoples who settled in Moesia near the Balkan – Haemus mountains, located in Bulgaria", including Prince Stefan Lazarević and Khan Tervel, "kings of the Triballi, in the 16th century testament of the family, becoming such by taking refugee in the Venetian island Corfu.

The founder of the Bulgari brand was Sotirios Voulgaris (Σωτήριος Βούλγαρης), who was born in Paramythia, in March 1857; he originated from the Aromanian village of Kalarrytes, which was the largest center for silversmithing in the Balkans. He was one of eleven children of Georgios Voulgaris (1823–1889) and his Vlachophone Greek mother Eleni Strouggari. In 1881, Sotirios and his family moved to Rome, where in 1884 he opened his second jewellery store on via Sistina 85 (their first shop in Naples closed after burglaries). In 1888, he married Aromanian Eleni Basio, with whom he had six children: Constantine-Georgios (1889–1973), Leonidas-Georgios (1890–1966), Maria-Athena (1891–1976), Sofia (1893–1908), Alexandra (1895–1984) and Spyridon (1897–1932); Leonidas-Georgios is the father of the current chairman of the company, Paolo Bulgari. In 1905, he unveiled the Via Condotti shop that would become the company's flagship. In its early years, Bulgari was known for silver pieces that borrowed elements from Byzantine and Islamic art, combining them with floral motifs. At the time, Paris was the apex of fashion and creativity, and its trends influenced Sotirio's designs for decades: jewels of the early '20s were characterised by platinum Art Deco settings while those of the '30s featured geometric diamond motifs—sometimes set in combination with coloured gemstones. Convertible jewels were also popular during the time, and one of Bulgari's major pieces was the Trombino, a small trumpet-shaped ring.

In 1932, Sotirio died, leaving the business to his two sons, Giorgio (1890–1966) and Costantino (1889–1973), who each had a keen interest in precious stones and jewels. During the Second World War, most new jewellery was crafted out of gold, as gems were scarce, and designs became more naturalistic. As the 1940s came to a close, Bulgari introduced Serpenti bracelet-watches.

In the 1950s, some of Bulgari's best-known clients included Elizabeth Taylor, Anna Magnani, Ingrid Bergman and Gina Lollobrigida as Rome earned a reputation as "Hollywood on the Tiber" with the Cinecittà studios.