Bulgari

Bulgari appears in the diary not as a fully described company but as a luxury house encountered through its products, private hospitality, and place in elite social life. Two episodes show its reach: Nicola, identified as Mr. Bulgari, takes Andy Warhol and Bob Colacello through rooms and vaults at his premises, while at a later benefit the guests’ tiny Bulgari jewels help define a conspicuously wealthy crowd reluctant to bid.

A Private Visit and a Business Opening

After a lunch for São Schlumberger at 775 Park Avenue, Mr. Bulgari invited Warhol and Bob Colacello to his place. He showed them the vaults and separate small rooms where customers were received, and said he would give them advertising. The diary records the visit as both a social call and a business overture, without specifying the terms or outcome of the proposed advertising.

The exchange also took the form of gifts. Mr. Bulgari gave Warhol the small silver letter opener he wanted; Bob Colacello received three soundtracks from Italian films. The contrast between the single object Warhol requested and the three records given to his companion makes the encounter feel personal, though the entry does not explain how the gifts related to the advertising offer.

Privacy, Luxury, and the Customer

Warhol noticed the private rooms set aside for customers and compared them to massage cubicles, suggesting that buyers preferred not to be seen purchasing jewels. The observation brings the hidden mechanics of luxury into view: Bulgari’s jewels were displayed and sold in a setting designed to shield the act of buying from public attention. The diary provides no further account of the rooms’ operation, but records the impression they made on a visitor.

Bulgari as a Social Signifier

At a benefit for John Warner, Warhol described the guests as wearing the tiniest jewels available at Bulgari while an auction struggled to attract bids. A painting offered by Aline Franzen went without a buyer until the scene became an argument among Franzen, Elizabeth Taylor, and Taylor’s secretary; elsewhere in the same account, Lee Grant auctioned porcelain teeth for two dollars. Bulgari’s name thus enters a socially awkward scene not through a major purchase but through small jewels worn by people who appeared unwilling to spend on the benefit.

These snapshots establish Bulgari’s association with discreet purchasing, precious objects, and affluent company. They do not supply a corporate history or a sustained account of the business; instead, the house emerges through the uses and meanings its products acquire in Warhol’s social world.