Journal
Elsa Peretti and India
©All rights reserved Paco Rebés, Elsa Peretti, 1969
“India is a very interesting and beautiful country. I like to see the way other women dress. The Indians have an innate sense of elegance, it’s fantastic. The colors the way they walk, sit and sand.”
in conversation with André Leon Talley for W Magazine, July 1976
Photos by Claudia Ferri
“Inspired by the beautiful atmosphere in Jaipur, I thought about a gold bra; the object was then painstakingly executed there. Back in New York, the idea progressed with the great help and generosity of Sam Beizer, teacher at F.I.T. The object was shown in a Halston collection; Tiffany was swamped with calls from people dying to get a gold bra. I was shocked at the time, but Walter Hoving (Head of Tiffany & Co. from 1955 to 1980) just smiled. The essential end product of those old, splendid times in Jaipur is a small gold scarf. Sometimes it’ s great to feel “ una piccola garibaldina ”. A tremendous amount of work and research went into this little scarf.” Elsa Peretti, Fifteen of my Fifty with Tiffany & Co. exhibition catalogue, F.I.T., New York 1990.
Photos by Claudia Ferri
During one of her trips to India, Elsa Peretti remained fascinated by antique mesh bags made by hand in Jaipur. The challenge was to find someone who could realize the gold mesh in the United States. Seeking technical expertise, she contacted New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology which led her to Prof. Samuel Beizer, first director of the jewelry department at F.I.T, who became a friend and collaborator.
“I found machines on which these bags were made 89 years ago. Machines that hadn’t been used since that time” recalled Beizer, and with the help of an 80-year-old retired worker that used to work on them when he was younger, Elsa Peretti and Samuel Beizer collaborated to rescue the old machines and began crafting the Mesh Collection.
In 1975 fashion designer Halston debuted the mesh bra in his fall-fashion show: “Tiffany was swamped with calls from people dying to get a gold bra,” Elsa Peretti recalled after the show. The mesh is machine-knitted like a stocking with solder-filled wire to avoid stitching, then heated until the solder flows and closes each link. It is then cut to shape by hand and turned into jewellery. A mesh scarf contains approximately 43,000 links.
Photo by Claudia Ferri
“I traveled to Japan, Hong Kong and India with some ideas in mind. No, not to copy their jewelry. Most of those pieces look good only with saris or native clothes. I was looking for some of their wonderful craftsmen.”
San Francisco Examiner, March, 1974
Over the years, the Nando and Elsa Peretti Foundation partnered with environmental and wildlife conservation organisations, giving grants to numerous conservation programmes and environmental education projects, as well as public awareness and advocacy campaigns. One of the first projects was the partnership with Elephant Family, an organization founded by Mark Shand to improve the living conditions of elephants in India.
“The diversity of Elsa Peretti’ s Foundation is extraordinary, yet the way
she puts it together and runs it is so personal. She picks every project very, very carefully.
It’ s a serious Foundation. ” Wildlife Advocate and founder of Elephant Family – Vanity Fair, July 2014
Elephant Family
Elsa Peretti herself loved elephants, and the animals have been the focus of many of the Nando and Elsa Peretti Foundation’s efforts to improve their living conditions in India. Thanks to the partnership that began in 2005 with Elephant Family, an NGO founded in 2002 by Mark Shand, the NaEPF has contributed to a unique project: improving the conditions of elephants kept in captivity for commercial purposes in Jaipur. These elephants, owned by private owners called “mahouts”, are used for tourist activities: the practice of keeping elephants in unsuitable areas and imposing a human-controlled lifestyle, combined with poor management, has had a negative impact on the physical and psychological well-being of these animals.
The Nando and Elsa Peretti Foundation has supported various educational projects, with a particular focus on girls’ education. Education is one of the main factors of change and self-development, especially for young people living in situations of extreme poverty. Education is the only way for these young people to escape a fate that seems to have been predetermined for them and to improve, in the medium and long term, not only their own lives, but also the economic and social fabric of their country.
NaEPF partnership with Associazione Amici Delle Missionarie
Dell’immacolata ODV
Improving the lives of the most needy, especially children, was one of Elsa Peretti’s main objectives and through the Nando and Elsa Peretti Foundation she was able to contribute to a better future for many of them. One of the projects still funded by the NaEPF is the support of the Nirmala Residential School Rishabhdev in Rajasthan, India.
Since 2011, the project aims to provide the most basic human rights to children living in remote rural areas of Rajasthan: schooling, health care, an opportunity to socialize and play. Over the years, NaEPF’s support has helped ensure quality food, improved facilities and services for the children, and continued efforts to improve the residential school. The boarding school offers an opportunity to change the upbringing of these children by providing them with proper nutrition, basic life skills and education, far more than what they could receive at home, where they would likely be tending to a few animals and helping in the fields from a very young age.
Photo by Claudia Ferri
NaEPF partnership with Disha Foundation
In 2002, Elsa Peretti wanted to give back to a country, Rajasthan, that had been so generous to her. The NaEPF funded the construction of the Disha Resource Center for Disabled, inaugurated on December 12, 2004, which provides special education, teacher training, vocational training, physiotherapy and other educational services to disabled children. In addition, the center played a key role in disseminating knowledge and awareness about the disabled, thus compensating for the lack of government programs. After the inauguration of the Center, the NaEPF continued to provide support to cover the cost of maintaining the building, providing new equipment and ensuring the educational activities.
NaEPF partnership with Archdiocese of Ranchi
As part of the Nando and Elsa Peretti Foundations support to younger generations, in Ranchi, India the NaEPF supported the renovation of the Loyolla Hostel building, a residence for 300 tribal youth in Ranchi, India. The Loyolla Hostel Building was designed and built in the early 1970s by the Jesuits, who ran it for thirty years; when Cardinal T. Toppo took over the hostel, the building was in a dilapidated and poor condition and needed renovation. The Loyolla Hostel was very important for the Archdiocese of Ranchi to help tribal students enter the administrative professions, who needed extra and special care to be able to compete with other students from non-tribal families. The renovation of the hostel was completed in 2007 and dedicated to the memory of Nando Peretti, father of Elsa Peretti. With its support, NaEPF has contributed to the development of the tribal society in the state of Jharkhand.
