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Andrew Sun


48 HOURS: Tell us about your aristocratic lineage.
PRINCESS IRA VONFÜRSTENBERG:  My family is not really royalty. It's not head of state. They used to have an emperor, but since the 1940s there hasn't been one. So it's not royalty anymore. It's just a name. Today, everybody is very democratic. It's not royalty like it used to be. Maybe in the Arab countries there is still a certain significance today, but in our world, everybody is down to earth, everybody is working, everybody is low profile. It's a different world.
Do you wish the world wasn't different?
Everything changes and evolves, like with all the phones and computers. I don't know if it's for better or worse. For example, last night at dinner there was a woman who was on Facebook or Twitter all night and she didn't talk to anyone.
I came from a very rich family. We had a very big house and servants. I always liked beautiful things and they were always on my mind. It was, of course, a more formal society than today. But it's the past. They didn't have iPhones and everyone wrote letters to each other.
In your younger days, you were also quite a film starlet and actress.
I was very lucky. I did work with all the big stars in Rome at the Cinecitta [studio], with Marcello Mastroianni and Anthony Quinn, and it was a wonderful time. I think today, the movies have less glamour. But glamour is different now. It's kids with crazy hair. They are very different to the stars we used to know who were chic and had great glamour to them. Perhaps simple is the new glamour.
Well, you did one film with Peter Lawford, who was a member of the Rat Pack and he was quite wild and crazy.
Yeah, those days don't exist anymore. They are all gone. It's a new world. That's why I got into creating art objects. You have to rejuvenate yourself.
You were quite a sex symbol, much like Gina Lollobrigida.
Gina Lollabrigita was always very jealous of me. I used to wonder why she was always bothering me? Maybe she was much smaller than me and I was tall. Maybe I had more success than her. I don't know. [ Vogue editor] Diane Vreeland liked me a lot so she made me pose with a lot of the star designers like Halston. I was very thin and could eat anything in those days and I was photogenic so I did a lot of photos. My son really wants to do a book of them. But I would only do it as a way for people to know my art objects otherwise there is no point for me to relive the past.
Are you in touch with your former sister-in-law Diane von Fürstenberg?
I don't see her very much now. We live different lives. She is in America. I am in Italy. She was married to my brother.
How did you get started in making these valuable art objects?
I started a long time ago, doing these things to give as presents. If you just go to Cartier or Bulgari, it's all the same thing everywhere. Mine are unique objects. Everyone started asking me to make more. But I'm not a jewellery maker. I want to create a different niche and that's why it's difficult. That is also why it is fun and special.
Who are your collectors?
Every place I go I do different collections. Sometimes I do things for galleries. We're going to Africa next, the Ivory Coast, so that will feature a lot of animals. But most of my customers are in Europe: Greece, Switzerland, Turkey, there are even some in Kazakhstan and Taiwan. I travel a lot. But I like it. It's fun to change. I'm almost 75, so as long as I can, I won't stop. I enjoy creating.
What is the response from Chinese customers?
I feel that I haven't captured their taste yet. I need to develop my name. That's the way in China. They have to know you. You have to be a brand. But I would love to eventually open a shop here in Hong Kong. I'm convinced if I go on, I will succeed.


Interview: Princess Ira von Fürstenberg talks royalty, art, and acting

The former film star and model now focuses on creating art objects

Interview: Princess Ira von Fürstenberg talks royalty, art, and acting

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The former film star and model now focuses on creating art objects

The former film star and model now focuses on creating art objects