Paolo Costagli — Florentine Geometry on the New York Bench
Paolo Costagli — Florentine Geometry on the New York Bench
An Italian-trained designer building architectural coloured-stone jewellery in Manhattan
Paolo Costagli is a New York-based jewellery designer of Florentine training whose work brings the disciplined geometry and technical depth of the Italian goldsmithing tradition into the American fine-jewellery market. The Costagli style is characterised by architectural forms, careful engraving, and the use of sugarloaf cabochons in sapphire, tourmaline, aquamarine, and other coloured stones, set in geometric mountings that combine Italian craft with contemporary lines. The atelier operates from Manhattan, with retail distribution through specialist independents and a flagship showroom in New York.
Training and approach
Costagli's training in Florence places him in the lineage of Italian goldsmithing that runs from Renaissance and Baroque hardstone work through to the twentieth-century atelier traditions of Buccellati, Bulgari, and the Florentine and Roman goldsmiths. The technical baseline is high: hand finishing, hand engraving, and the kind of precision in stone setting that the Italian bench tradition demands. Costagli applies that craft to a contemporary American sensibility, with cleaner lines and more architectural geometry than the most ornate Italian houses.
Signature design vocabulary
The Costagli vocabulary centres on a small set of recurring elements. Sugarloaf cabochons — pyramidal cabochons with a square or rectangular base and a peaked top — appear repeatedly across rings, earrings, and pendants, often in vivid sapphire, peridot, tourmaline, or aquamarine. The mountings are geometric, frequently rectangular or oblong rather than rounded, with engraving and milgrain detail that recalls Renaissance metalwork. Diamond accents are used sparingly, typically as pavé borders or as principal stones in their own pieces rather than as omnipresent garnish.
Recurring collections include rings with sugarloaf central stones in stepped or fluted shanks, drop earrings combining briolette and sugarloaf elements, and high-jewellery commissions in saturated coloured-stone palettes.
Position in the market
Costagli operates in the upper independent designer segment of the American market, alongside designers such as James de Givenchy, Sevan Bicakci, and Alexandra Mor. The pieces are not mass-produced but are not unique commissions either; small editions, custom commissions, and a stock collection coexist. Pricing reflects the labour-intensive Italian-style finishing and the use of fine coloured stones; ring pieces typically sit in the high four-figure to mid five-figure range, with high-jewellery commissions running higher.
In the trade
For Skyjems clients who appreciate Italian goldsmithing brought to a contemporary American context, Costagli's work is a credible reference. The designer's commitment to sugarloaf cabochons in particular has helped revive interest in that classical cut among the American collector base. Pieces are signed and serial-numbered, and provenance is straightforward.