At the pinnacle of high jewelry, the Venetian house of Codognato claims its own rarefied orbit—peculiar and sublime. Only true connoisseurs qualify for access to the jeweler’s unsettling bestiaire of enamel skulls glaring through ruby-lit hollows, golden serpents coiling possessively around toads and rats, and miniature coffins swinging like sinister medieval talismans from antique cameo necklaces. Such is the macabre yet magnificent universe of jeweler extraordinaire Attilio Codognato, the late maestro of erudite, enigmatic adornment.
His tiny atelier, tucked away like a reluctantly shared secret in a narrow calle, mere steps from the tourist-swollen pomp of Piazza San Marco, sits worlds apart from the polished vitrines of conventional haute joaillerie. Codognato’s creations aren’t about flawless symmetry, blinding solitaires, or bourgeois propriety; they are about mortality and mischief, beauty tinged with a frisson of danger and discomfort. To wear one of his pieces, imbued with the historic and philosophical symbolism of memento mori imagery, isn’t about mere accessorizing, but displays an allegiance to life’s shadowed, intoxicating side. Less like a jewelry store than a velvet-draped Wunderkammer, his atelier is part art gallery, part reliquary, and a site of pilgrimage for an IYKYK set of wealthy savants.
A new book, titled Memento Vivere, is shining a spotlight on the late Codognato’s fabulous body of work and the legacy he left behind after his passing in 2023. Today, that legacy rests in the hands of his heirs: son Mario, an art curator with a prestigious international résumé, and daughter Cristina, who runs a psychotherapy practice in London. Together, they’re steering the family heritage forward. A radical change of course? Absolutely not. If anything, the plan is to stay the course, only with renewed conviction.
“Neither of us ever imagined we’d one day take care of it—our lives and careers were elsewhere. But as our father grew older, we began helping him, even with relocating the store, and gradually stepped into a world we had long admired from afar. Soon we realized it would be a shame to let this story end,” said Mario Codognato, speaking from the piano nobile of the Venetian palazzo his father called home, surrounded by a sensational art collection spanning Old Masters, Surrealists, Warhols, Twomblys, Rauschenbergs, and a plethora of Duchamps, his favorite artist, all of which he insatiably collected. “Meeting the artisans, true artists in their own right, who had worked with our father for generations made us understand how precious this legacy was. We are also guided by his vast archive, which continues to inspire us,” chimed Cristina. The artisans know how to revive old designs and create new ones in the spirit their father believed in: Every jewel must be unique, an exquisite variation on a theme. “We follow the same principle, enriching the story with pieces that carry history, like the antique cameos we recently acquired and turned into necklaces,” they remarked. Production remains deliberately small: one-of-a-kind creations, available only in the Venice store. “Our father never yielded to the temptation of expanding elsewhere, and neither will we.” At Codognato, the notion of retail world domination isn’t welcomed, and the ubiquitous role of creative director would be almost redundant—the archive, the artisans, and a wicked spark of macabre genius have been doing a brilliant job for generations.
Indeed, the house of Codognato has been dazzling Venice and the international set since 1866, when 22-year-old Simeone Codognato opened an antiquarian shop just steps from St. Mark’s Square. Catering to aristocratic grand tour travelers, he soon started crafting jewelry that blended Gothic, Byzantine, and Renaissance influences—history and decadence you could wear. In 1897, his son Attilio took over, drawing inspiration from the Etruscan archeological excavations of the day and introducing the skull-shaped Vanitas jewels. Dark, opulent, and spellbinding, these provocative pieces seduced a circle of avant-garde artists and intellectuals. Coco Chanel was an imperious client; Jean Cocteau, Sergei Diaghilev, and Serge Lifar were also among those enchanted by their eerie charm. By 1958, after his father’s death, the young Attilio Codognato took the helm, carrying forward a legacy steeped in history, philosophical gravitas, and a glamorous dash of dark humor.
As a psychotherapist, Cristina Codognato is uniquely placed to decode the subconscious symbolism in her father’s creations. She links his fascination with the memento mori imagery as a psychoanalytical signifier: “The skull points to the unconscious dimension of death—inevitable, yet repressed. Rituals that use skulls or skeletal imagery bring death closer without being overwhelmed by it,” she reflected, proving that appreciation for unorthodox erudition runs in the family. “On a psychoanalytic level, this is a form of exorcism: transforming mute terror into symbolic form, into language, dream, and ritual. From medieval danse macabre to Baroque vanitas, from Mexico’s Día de los Muertos to Christian relics, the skull domesticates terror, making it thinkable, even aesthetic.”
Constellations of collectors have long orbited around the disquieting aura of Codognato’s talismans. Among the most devoted is Maria Grazia Chiuri, who hosted the book’s launch at the family’s palazzo during the Venice Film Festival with daughter Rachele Regini, who has been swept up in the Codognato mystique by her mother. The party had the feel of a festive affair, drawing a fabulous mix of family friends: Julian Schnabel, Anish Kapoor, Dries Van Noten, Juergen Teller, Willem Dafoe, Francesca Bellettini, and many more turned out to toast the new chapter of the house of Codognato.
“What I love most is the craftsmanship: jewels that reveal extraordinary techniques, from the natural cut of the stones to the setting,” said Chiuri, who pivoted her work at Dior around an appreciation for craft. “I can spot that unmistakable handwork immediately—high jewelry with a haute couture spirit, always one of a kind. No two pieces are ever alike; the artisan’s hand, a true goldsmith-artist, makes sure of that.”
Chiuri always wears multiple Codognato rings, and has many fond memories about the late jeweler. “I bought my first Codognato piece more than 20 years ago. It wasn’t an inheritance or family tradition, but a choice of my own,” she remembered. “Every time I arrived in Venice my first stop was always his shop—still is. I remember once longing for a necklace. Attilio looked me in the eye and said: “No, signora, there’s nothing suitable for you now. But when there is, I’ll call.” Eight months later the phone rang: “I’ve found your necklace. I’ll send someone to Rome, no obligation, but I think it’s the one.” And of course, it was exactly the necklace I had dreamed of.”
“The funniest part has often been dragging my husband along, with my daughter Rachele as co-conspirator,” she shared. “One morning, fresh off the train, we dashed straight to the store. We tried on everything, and found a necklace we both adored. I said: “Let’s buy it together—call it family budgeting.” I left saying I’d think about it, five minutes of reflection are my rule. But by the time we reached the corner I told Rachele: “No way, we need it! Let’s go back.” Five minutes later we were in the shop again, happily surrendering. Sharing it somehow made the splurge feel lighter, almost a family heirloom in the making.”
Wearing an enameled skull on your finger or a gold coffin pendant that pops open to reveal a reclining skeleton isn’t everyone’s idea of investment jewelry. Yet these symbols are less about death than about life—an unapologetic call to seize the day. After all, death is merely a beginning in disguise. Italian writer Angelo Flaccavento, who penned the book’s introduction, agrees: “Attilio had a wicked sense of humor and loved paradoxes. His taste for darkness was never gloomy but vital, never somber but vigorous. He forged his own iconography, distilling centuries of existential musings on life’s transience into something as decorative and glitzy, but also as permanent, as jewels.”
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