What is a cammeo?

"Cammeo is a stone or a shell encarved or engraved using the different cromatic level of those materials". This is a synthetic definition that doesn’t give the real essence of what a cammeo means for italian tradition and for every woman in the world.
This is Eredi di Jovon Bruno definition: "A cammeo is a piece of art, is a part of italian history, something for the life, something that you can use but almost something that pointed out your taste for elegance and grace".
This definition is our guide to satisfy our customer.
Those jewels come directly from our ancestors, the Romans, spreading their parfume of grace and mistery all along italian history; the eight of their glory was during Renaissance as a lot of European Museums testify. But a cammeo is not only this, a cammeo is a symbol of elegance and grace, of woman’s taste satisfied by her man’s love.
There is a cammeo for every woman, your... is only waiting for you.


How is made a cammeo

Bruno Jovon’s Cammeos are completely handmade like 2000 years ago!
In our laboratories, from a rude conch shell, a cammeos passees different phases:

1. The shell (CORNIOLA, SARDONICA) has to be cut in its most rounding part (Scoppatura).
2. Inside this part the artist point out the pecieces that he will develope from it(Segnatura).
3. Every single piece is cut(Sagomatura) and maked round(Aggarbatura) to make the base for the artistic inspiration.
4. The piece, using a sort of wax, is put on wood and the surface is cleaned till reaching the white substrate(Spianatura) where the artist can make the first design of his masterpiece.
5. This is the most artistic phase: first of all with large edges(bulini) and then with always more precise edges(Incisione) the craftman develope his masterpiece using mind, technical and heart.
6. The cammeo is now cleaned and maked shine(Lucidatura) to amazing the customers.


Materials used

Shell:
• Corniola shell: Cypraecassis rufa
• Sardonica shell: Cassis madagascariensis
• Red shell: Cassis cornuta
• Tigrina shell: Cypraea tigris
• Corallina shell: Strombus Gigas
• Mother pearl: Pinctada Margaritifera


Other materials:
• Lava stone (are also called in this way the stones finded in the rivers near vulcanic sites)
• Ivory: from the ’70 the ivory was forbitten to avoid the poaching and protect the elephants.
• Corals:

a) Red italian coral(Rubrum mediterraneae); almost face in front (not in profile), angels; very difficult the pieces big in size.
b) Orange italian coral “Sciacca” (Rubrum mediterraneae); subfossil coral dated 2 million of years ago(fished on ending ‘800 till first of ‘900, then finished); very rare and special.
c) Cherry coral(Corallium Elatius); from very pale pink(the famous “Angel’s skin” color) till a “red-orange”; very good to be cut.
d) Other corals, inside the 7 “families” recognized by jewellery.