Paolo Bulgari — The Grandson Who Carried Bulgari Into the LVMH Era
Paolo Bulgari — The Grandson Who Carried Bulgari Into the LVMH Era
Chairman of Bulgari S.p.A. through the brand's globalisation, until the 2011 LVMH acquisition
Paolo Bulgari is a member of the third generation of the Bulgari family, the grandson of the house's founder Sotirio Bulgari, and the long-serving chairman of Bulgari S.p.A. through the period in which the family-controlled Roman jeweller was transformed into a global luxury brand. Together with his brother Nicola, Paolo led the company from the 1960s through to its 2011 acquisition by LVMH, presiding over the development of the bold, colourful, gemstone-led aesthetic that defines the modern Bulgari signature and over the brand's expansion from a single Roman boutique to a worldwide retail network.
Family and inheritance
Sotirio Bulgari, the founder, was a Greek silversmith from Epirus who established a silver-and-jewellery business in Rome in 1884. His sons, Costantino and Giorgio, took over the business in the early twentieth century and built it into a leading Roman jeweller. Paolo and Nicola, sons of Giorgio, joined the firm in the 1960s and progressively took over its management as the third generation. Paolo took the chairmanship and Nicola the vice-chairmanship; the two worked closely throughout their joint tenure.
The Bulgari aesthetic
Under Paolo and Nicola's leadership, Bulgari developed a distinctive design vocabulary that broke with the Parisian high-jewellery convention dominant since the 1920s. Where Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels favoured platinum and diamonds with measured colour accents, Bulgari adopted yellow gold as a primary metal and built compositions around large cabochon coloured stones — sapphires, emeralds, rubies, tourmalines, citrines, peridots — often combined within a single piece. The result was an unmistakably Roman style, theatrical and Mediterranean in colour sensibility, that distinguished the house from its French competitors and built a strong following among collectors and celebrities through the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.
Signature design lines developed during this period include the Serpenti collection of articulated snake bracelets and watches, the Tubogas collection of woven gold bands, the BVLGARI BVLGARI line with the house name engraved on the bezel, and the high-jewellery commissions in cabochon coloured stones that continue to define the brand's flagship work.
Internationalisation
The brothers extended Bulgari's retail footprint beyond Rome through a programme of boutique openings in Milan, Paris, New York, Geneva, and across Asia from the 1970s onward. The company listed on the Borsa Italiana in 1995 and used the public-market access to fund continued international expansion. Bulgari hotels, perfumes, and accessories were added as brand extensions, broadening the house from pure jewellery into the wider luxury category.
The LVMH transition
In 2011, LVMH acquired Bulgari from the family in a transaction that gave LVMH 100 per cent of the company, with the Bulgari family receiving LVMH shares. Paolo Bulgari remained in an honorary capacity as chairman after the acquisition, with operational control passing to LVMH-appointed management. The transition aligned Bulgari with LVMH's broader watch and jewellery division alongside Tiffany, Chaumet, and Hublot.
In the trade
Period Bulgari pieces from the Paolo and Nicola era — particularly those from the 1970s and 1980s — are now strongly collectible, with auction interest in cabochon-coloured-stone necklaces, Tubogas watches, and Serpenti bracelets running at the high end of the signed-jewellery market. Skyjems clients interested in vintage Bulgari should look for pieces with clear hallmarks, original signed cases or papers, and laboratory verification of significant coloured stones. The brand's continuing high-jewellery production extends the design language Paolo and Nicola established.