Giovanni Battista Janesich 1836-1927

on 1927 ...

In 1896 Giovanni established a wholesale trade branch for gems and pearls in the Rue de Lafayette in Paris; he leaves Alberto to manage it, a young man with a marked inclination for buying and selling and an enthusiastic connoisseur of gems.

His other son Giuseppe, who inherited his grandfather's passion for the Fine Arts and his talent for drawing, becomes the cultural reference point of the family and manages the Trieste shop.

A continuous exchange of valuables takes place between the two shops: those produced in France are also sold in Capo di Piazza and vice versa.

Giovanni is involved in promoting business connections for both shops, and the firm's correspondence reflects good business relations with houses such as Bulgari and Settepassi in Italy and Vever, Boucheron and Chaumet in France. Some of Daume's and Walter's vases are mounted in silver, based on designs by Giuseppe, while Tiffany purchases considerable amounts of pearls from Alberto. By then, Alberto, well-accepted in Paris' high society, frequents the Opera as a guest in the box of the Princess of Metternich and can count among his clients all the "crème" of  the "Ville Lumiere".

In 1913, Alberto takes over two shops from the Goustikker family; one is very large, in Rue de la Paix, the temple of Parisian luxury, situated between Tiffany and Cartier; the other, in Monte Carlo, is smaller but faces the Casino. The immediate and great success of business cast off any previous uncertainties about what steps were to be further taken.

The stir caused by the celebrations, in Saint Petersburg, for the three-hundred anniversary of the Romanoff family, brings him new, wealthy customers and Alberto was already present at the auction of the Duchess of Marlborough's jewellery, acquiring the diadem and a necklage.

Only the outbreak of World War I could stop this success. When the conflict came to the end, the clientele's desire to make up for lost time led the Janesich family to set up two new shops in the renowned resorts of Deauville and Vichy. While the shop in Trieste included clients such as King Nicholas of Montenegro and Duke Amedeo of Aosta as well as big shipping companies, Paris and Montecarlo would receive frequent visits from Princess Ruspoli and Baronesses Rothschild and Forest and all the fashionable society of the time.

Tiffany continued to buy gems from Alberto, while his father, although elderly, managed the connection with the Baume et Mercier watch factory, for whose mechanisms wonderful gem and gold watchcases were made in the then, all the rage "deco" style.

The great jewellery designer Alfred Langlois, works for Janesich as well as for Boucheron and Mauboussin;  Giuseppe in Trieste designs an elegant gold, silver and enamel jewelry box for the wedding of Princess Mafalda of Savoia.

In 1923, the first Biennale Festival of Decorative Arts at the Royal Villa in Monza includes some beautiful creations by the firm, and in 1925 the House of  Savoy awards the Janesich family with the royal appointment.

The crown adorning the head of the Madonna in the Castelmonte sanctuary will also be created in their workshops.

In 1927 Giovanni Janesich passed away and Giuseppe initiates his son Pietro,nicknamed Momo,

to the family trade where he fits in brilliantly.

Since the early 20th century, the Janesich also specialize in medal manufacturing to celebrate ship launchings and historical and commemorative anniversaries.

In 1933 Giuseppe is awarded the House of Aosta appointment but the joy cannot be shared with Alberto, who died a few months earlier; the shops in France are closed over the next two years; an office, opened by Alberto in London, had been closed by Alberto himself in the early post-war period.

Giuseppe and Momo continue the century-old tradition. They will carry on the beautiful production for famous authorities of the time and for official national and local celebrations.

Many works of art are made for the then Premier Mussolini and Minister Ciano, and many gift items are made on the occasion of the frequent ship-launching ceremonies of the Thirties.

Giuseppe dies 1937 and soon thereafter Europe, at war again, will be lacerated for seven long years.

It will be left up to Momo, now alone, to start up the post-war activity.

By this time the whole world has changed: Momo, a cultured and refined man, opening his heart to a friend, tells him sadly that all the great customers have "gone". The House of Janesich continues its production among which the masterpiece creation of the Golden Laurel Award Cup, for the renowned American film producer of "A Farewell to Arms" and "Gone with the Wind", David O.Selznik.

In 1971 Momo passes away, in his beautiful residence in Barcola, Trieste.

At  present, the family tradition is being continued by Francesco Janesich, the sixth heir to a jewellers family, in Trieste, in via San Nicolò 30, where in the great respect and tradition of its 175 years experience, jewels and precious items are still conceived and realized.