Trifari
TRIFARI
COSTUME JEWELLERY
Gustavo Trifari who emigrated from Italy to New York in 1904 started, together with his uncle, producing Custom Jewellery until 1912. In that year he went his own way and founded TRIFARI. The company became soon famous for its designs and high quality jewellery, worn by many Broadway and Hollywood goddesses.
In 1930s Alfred Philippe joined Trifari as headdesigner. Alfred Philippe had previously designed pieces for William Scheer, who produced fine jewelry for Van Cleef & Arpels (VCA) and Cartier. Her drew on his experience , using the best materials and exacting methods, including the invisible setting technique. Developed voor VCA by Philippe, this method was normally reserved for fine jewelry and required an extraordinary level of craftmanship. It involved fixing stones from the back, so that from the front it appeared as is there were no mount..” (Source: Costume Jewellery by Judith Miller)