I’ve had my eye on Federico de Vera for a long time now, as I first discovered his breathtaking-yet pricey- objects d’art in San Francisco, where he launched his first shop, DE VERA, in 1991. Since then, this vintage collector and jewelry designer has led his troupe of chic design and fashion disciples to the East Coast, where he collects and presents his creations, museum style, at his two NYC locations in Soho and the Upper East Side. Curated from his sophisticated mix of objects and jewelry , de Vera seeks beauty in the most unlikely places while traveling the world, buying everything from Japanese lacquerware and vintage Venetian glass, to nineteenth-century Philippine Santos figures, and European decorative arts.
Using rare antique elements such as Roman intaglios, Georgian brooches, precious gemstones, rose-cut diamonds- which is his obsession- baroque pearls, and Sardinian corals, de Vera’s jewels- like the nineteenth-century Mourning brooch- can sell for upwards of $25,000. His eighteenth-century religious figures play into his fascination with saintly artifacts- stemming from his Catholic upbringing- and the beautiful selection of artful Venetian glass adds a bright perspective to his otherwise eclectic pieces, which are crafted with old and new materials.
Intriguing architectural remnants, as well as vintage and contemporary glass, nineteenth-century dolls from India, and the two published books illustrating his objects, and jewelry, has attracted fashion’s supermen, Giorgio Armani and Karl Lagerfeld, to DE VERA, where they’ve been known to scoop up some of his very cool items. I wouldn’t be surprised if a a religious artifact or two is sitting prominently in one of their villas. www.deveraobjects.com
