Style Edit: Inside Bulgari’s iconic contemporary B.Zero1 line – inspired by the Roman Colosseum and created with modern techniques, the Italian jewellery collection continues to evolve

Apr 17 , 2023

Intricate detailing being applied to a B.Zero1 ring. Photos: Bulgari

In 1999, Bulgari rewrote the rules of contemporary jewellery design with a groundbreaking new collection known as B.Zero1. Nearly a quarter of a century later, it continues to be one of the most instantly recognisable and successful jewellery collections in the world – but it also continues to surprise and delight with its head-turning new variations.

The aesthetic idea that inspired the Bulgari B.Zero1 collection involved yoking together the ancient and the modern.

A B.Zero1 ring hanging on a B.Zero1 necklace.

Bulgari is closely intertwined with the city of Rome, where it has been based since it was founded as a jeweller’s shop in 1884, and it’s the Eternal City that provides the collection with its storied inspiration – specifically, the fluid geometry of the world’s oldest amphitheatre, the Colosseum.

The modern comes in the form of the industrial tubing that also inspires the collection – an innovation that has required Bulgari to invent an entire new technique, Tubogas, which is used to create the spiral tubes with hollow, cylindrical cores.

A diamond-studded ring and necklace from the B.Zero1 collection.

The various rings in the B.Zero1 collection feature between one and five bands in their central section, surrounded on either side by flat rings that prominently display the Bulgari logo. The collection’s name combines the “B” of the brand name with “Zero” to mark the start of the new millennium when the collection was launched, with “1” for the new beginnings the era ushered in. It very quickly gained iconic status and became a massive hit: since its introduction, more than two million B.Zero1 rings have been sold worldwide.

There have been numerous iterations of the collection since then, with more introduced each year. Among them have been collaborations with creative titans including British-Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor and late Iraqi-British starchitect Zaha Hadid, while other versions have rendered the central bands in everything from multicoloured marble to bronze ceramic.

In recent years, a collection that has held innovation as its hallmark since the outset has continued to make waves with a range of new varieties.

Ring, bracelet and jewellery from the 2020 B.Zero1 Rock collection.

In 2020, for example, Bulgari introduced the B.Zero1 Rock line, which takes its aesthetic cues from studded Bulgari chokers dating back to the 1980s. It comprised two rings, one of them in yellow gold with diamonds, and the other in rose gold with a daring injection of black ceramic on two of its edges, as well as pendants and earrings.

The B.Zero1 Rock range was extended in 2021 with a new set of novelties that includes the collection’s most precious piece, an 18k white gold necklace featuring 7.2 carats of diamonds, alongside a rose gold necklace with a pendant featuring black ceramic highlights, and a yellow gold version studded with diamonds, as well as gold rings and a stackable rose gold bangle.

A glamorous new version of the B.Zero1 ring introduced in 2022, meanwhile, features a diamond-set wave at either end of a three-band central spiral in yellow, rose or white gold. It’s another demonstration that in this ever-expanding collection combining the best of ancient and modern, you’ll find something for everyone.

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Style Edit

Launched in 1999, blending the ancient with the modern, the B.Zero1 collection has continued to evolve via collaborations with the likes of Zaha Hadid and Anish Kapoor
Over two million B.Zero1 rings have been sold worldwide while 2020’s B.Zero1 Rock collection continues to expand with necklaces, rings and bangles in gold and diamonds