From Bulgari’s Tondo collection, this circular pendant combines stainless steel, 18k yellow gold, and pavé-set diamonds in an abstract flame motif, suspended from its original black leather cord. The contrast is central to the design: polished steel forms a cool, substantial frame, while the gold interior breaks into curling tongues of fire, their surfaces illuminated with small round diamonds. The Tondo series explored a number of bold graphic emblems within this circular format—sun, heart, zodiacal and other motifs—using the tension between gold, steel, and leather to give the jewels a distinctly informal character. This diamond-set “Fire Tondo” is also a documented Bulgari design, with comparable examples appearing at Christie’s.
The Tondo became part of the visual language of late-1990s and early-2000s fashion, and a Bulgari Tondo pendant was notably worn by Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City, helping make the design especially recognizable to viewers of the period. The association feels particularly apt: these were Bulgari jewels intended to be worn with ease, placing diamonds and gold not on a conventional chain, but against the direct, modern simplicity of black leather.
A circle of steel, a flicker of gold, and diamond fire—a jewel that captures the confident informality of Bulgari in the 1990s.
