A lot can happen in 24 hours — at least that’s what Rafaela Amini, who unveiled her new Gioia jewelry salon Wednesday night, was banking on. The day before, the 1,500-square-foot space on the 21st floor of the Fuller Building in Manhattan was still nowhere near done. Mirrors and glass fixtures had yet to be installed. Display cases were unfinished. Six chairs, crafted from gingko leaves cast in bronze, were stuck in Customs. And there wasn’t a single jewel in the house, either.
For Amini, co-owner of Gioia with her father, David, who also owns Beauvais Carpets a few floors down, however, that’s business as usual. When they opened their first store in 1997 a few blocks east at 485 Park Avenue, the decorational pièce de résistance — a giant bust of Neptune once used as a centerpiece by Marie-Hélène de Rothschild — was impounded by Customs en route from a London auction. But the gemstone- and shell-covered sculpture arrived just in time for the opening and, at the Fuller space, it still sits near the entrance. “Neptune has been with us since Day One,” says Amini, “and will continue to preside over the showroom here.”
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The salon, which sells pieces by Paris jeweler Michel Wassilief, marks a whole new chapter for the Aminis — their third, actually. After the Park Avenue boutique, which worked an intimate Old World vibe with period furniture and silk-swathed rooms, in 2004, the father-and-daughter duo moved around the corner to a larger store on East 57th. They swapped that look for an Art Deco interior, which made sense since they also began selling antique jewelry, mostly from that period, during that time. Plus, Amini notes, “the first space just had a small display window, and you couldn’t see into the store. It was very intimidating and a little too closed off. So we decided to move to a place that was more open to the public and had a lot of street presence.”
The second location, with its large windows filled with jewels, worked. Street traffic increased, as did Gioia’s profile — though perhaps a little too much. Last May, Amini was robbed while her security guard was on lunch break. Two men pushed their way in, knocked her out and left with more than $1 million worth of jewels. This third Gioia iteration is by appointment only.
According to Amini, the decision to go private was a long time coming and not a result of the break-in; the incident just provided the push she needed. “I knew before that happened that I wanted to evolve the company,” she says. “We’ve established the clientele now. We have a lot of high-profile people, and this gives them guaranteed privacy and guaranteed time with us.”
There are other changes, too. The space, designed by Michael Valente, who worked on the earlier stores, now has a decidedly modern and minimal sensibility. Carpets are beige and the walls, a subtle gold. (The latter is gilded, actually, by her father’s soon-to-launch Beauvais Services business, which will offer various surface treatments, such as lime painting.) There are vintage aluminum consoles from the Forties, tables by Miriam Ellner covered with silver leaf and crushed abalone — there’s abalone on Neptune, too, Amini points out — and a sleek sofa by the noted German furniture designer Vladimir Kagan. “We wanted to go clean this time,” says Amini. “It’s bringing glamour to a modern world.” Also new: a lilac color scheme seen in the lacquered vestibule walls and curtains, which will make its way into the company logo and stationery.
As for the new addition to the Gioia family — a whimsical pink painting by artist Yan Basely that features a woman surrounded by aquatic motifs — Amini says, “We call her Ms. Neptune.”