BVLGARI @ SPIGA Bridal Ring

Bvlgari keeps the eternal promise of love with the new Spiga ring for its Bridal Collection.  The Spiga pattern recollects the precious kernels of the symbolic wheat stalk, a basic form of sustenance and beauty.  Rooted in brand heritage, the iconic Spiga design was first harvested by Bulgari in the 1990s with its popular interpretation of the time-honoured symbol. Born of mythology and worshipped in ancient days, the wheat stalk has represented fertility and prosperity for centuries. Contemporary in design, ancient in symbolism, the wheat stalk pattern on the Spiga ring echoes infinity: the symbol of forever is incarnated into the platinum itself.  The distinctive Spiga pattern crests to a diamond apex at the centre of the band – a perfect gem crowning perfect love. 

Available in various carats from 0,30 to 1,50, Spiga bridal rings encircle the essence of nature and the audacity of Bulgari, under the inspiration of forever.  With rounded shapes and the iconic sense of volume so typical of Bulgari, Spiga design yields old and new.  Love evolves, as too does the Bulgari Bridal Collection.  Encircled by the eternal promise “You and I forever,” luxuriant Spiga rings reproduce love for a lifetime to come. The “good luck” symbolism of Spiga mythology is more than just ground deep.  Entrenched in the ages of history, the wheat stalk has been a symbol of prosperity and fertility since ancient times, its likeness entwined with marriage throughout.  As the seeds are enclosed within the wheat stalk, it provides an edible metaphor for marriage: the power to grow is enclosed within itself, yet is also the source of life.  For centuries, the wheat stalk has been an emblem of birth, a sign of the future, a gift from the divine, and a symbol of abundance.  In Ancient Greek and Roman tradition, the wheat stalk held importance in ceremony – whether gifted to or held by the bride and groom, or decorating the bride’s hair, arm or finger.

Recollecting such a past, there are few symbols more fitting for a bridal jewellery collection than Spiga.  In ancient tradition, the commitment to eternal love was only made sacred through gifts of wheat stalks.  When the Ancient Roman bride gave her right hand to the groom, she held three wheat stalks with her left.  Beginning in the 16th c., jewellers included the stalk of wheat in wedding tiaras, for good luck and fortune.  Such tradition stemmed first from mythology.  In Ancient Roman religion, Ceres was a goddess of the harvest and fertility.  Her name may have derived from the Proto-Indo-European root “ker,” meaning "to grow," also a root for many English words such as "create,” “cereal,”  “grow,” “kernel.”  Ceres presided over the sanctity of marriage and protected transitions of women from girlhood to womanhood, from unmarried to married life, to motherhood. In freestanding statuary, Ceres has commonly worn a wheat-crown or has held a wheat spray.  Ceres statues and her likeness largely appear in ancient history, yet are still also seen in contemporary forms: atop agricultural statehouses, on flags and motifs, engraved in jewellery…with reverence to ancient deities and its own ancestral Greek and Roman tradition, Bulgari has recreated its original inspiration with Spiga, featuring exceptional gemstones in  a historically relevant context. First developed by Bulgari in 1990s, the Spiga “module” technique took shape by interlocking a succession of straight and curved elements together.  The sinuous links rose to become an icon of jewellery, through their extreme versatility and wearability. The Spiga module provided superior quality of design and manufacture for women who required stylish, wearable jewels to replace conventional, formal jewellery.