How Bvlgari transforms perfume bottles and luxury handbags into bejewelled treasures

An ode to Bvlgari’s eclectic DNA, its latest high jewellery collection, Eclettica, draws on the artistic disciplines that have long shaped the Roman house: architecture, sculpture, and painting.

It is a fascinating yet natural expression of a jeweller that has always thrived on creative cross-pollination, bringing together ancient Rome and modernity, colour, and structure, as well as art and craftsmanship in a language that is unmistakably Bvlgari.

While the high jewellery and timepieces typically take centre stage, the luxury handbags and perfume offerings broaden the collection’s scope — demonstrating how Bvlgari’s aesthetic codes can extend across leather, glass, and scent to elevate everyday objects into exquisite works of art.

The bag as a jewel

Among the collection’s highlights are 10 one-of-a-kind high jewellery bags crafted from alligator leather. While luxury handbags have long occupied a place within the universe of stylish modern women, Bvlgari approaches them here with the same attention and passion typically reserved for its most important jewels.

The defining feature is transformability. Several designs incorporate detachable bejewelled closures and pendants that can be worn separately as necklaces or brooches, allowing the bags to move seamlessly between functional object and wearable art.

The Divas’ Dream evening bags draw inspiration from the Art Deco era, translating geometric motifs into sculptural silhouettes and intricate details. Elsewhere, the Dragone top-handle and evening bags embrace colour and artistic expression, while the Serpenti Original top-handle bags and evening clutches channel the architectural strength of Bvlgari’s emblematic serpent motif.

The collection also introduces the high-end Eclectic Serpenti bag, distinguished by a newly developed alligator-leather silhouette and a contemporary interpretation of the house’s signature snake-head closure. 

What makes these luxury handbags particularly interesting is that they are not simply embellished with jewellery. Rather, they are conceived as jewellery creations in their own right, where leather craftsmanship and high jewellery savoir faire carry equal weight.

Perfume as a precious objet d’art

Three fragrances — Architettura, Scultura and Pittura — make up Eclettica’s olfactory offerings, each named for the artistic disciplines that anchor the collection. But with Bvlgari, the scent is only part of the story.

The flacons begin life on the island of Murano just off Venice, where glassblowers have been refining their craft for centuries. Each bottle is shaped using the ancient Sbruffo technique, a mouth-blown method in which breath and fire are the only tools.

Molten glass is rolled into coloured granules and encased in clear glass, producing a surface that is textured, chromatic, and entirely distinctive. Closer in character to a gemstone than a perfume bottle, with colour and depth shifting at every angle, no two are identical.

From Venice, the flacons are then transported to Bvlgari’s high jewellery ateliers in Rome, where an entirely different set of hands takes over. Master goldsmiths enrich each bottle with yellow gold, diamonds, and precious gemstones until it becomes, in the fullest sense, a jewel. The adornment detaches and can be worn as a brooch or pendant.

The perfume, created exclusively by French master perfumer Yann Vasnier, is a noble amber floral signature that brings together ingredients of diverse colours, origins, and characters.

It opens with the crimson vibrancy of Italian blood orange, giving way to the golden luminosity of vanilla absolute at its heart, before unfolding into the enveloping depth of an amber-like accord of chestnut cream.

Rather than follow a conventional fragrance pyramid, Vasnier weaves these elements into a fluid, harmonious composition. Each note is present, but none overwhelms the other — a balance that echoes the eclectic harmony Bvlgari pursues in its high jewellery. 

Each flacon comes with lifetime refillability because beautiful objects made this carefully should never run out.