Our Story: La Famiglia, Above All

The Italian Jewelry Company was founded in 2020 by designer Jennifer Derrig to honor her grandparents' Italian legacy. An Italian dual citizen through her family's bloodline, Jennifer curates and designs authentic Italian jewelry — handcrafted in Italy — that celebrates the artistry, symbolism, and family devotion at the heart of Italian culture.

It Began at My Grandparents' Table

Every Italian-American family knows the feeling: the crowded Sunday table, the sauce that simmered since morning, the gold glinting at a grandmother's neck as she waves you in for one more plate. Italy wasn't a place we visited — it was a presence in our home, carried across the ocean by my grandparents and kept alive in everything they did.

My grandparents brought Italy with them to America: its faith, its traditions, its superstitions and celebrations, and above all its unshakable belief that family comes first. The jewelry they wore was never just decoration. A Cornicello for protection. A saint's medal for faith. A gold chain passed down at a wedding. In our family, jewelry was memory made wearable.

The Italian Jewelry Company exists to honor them — and to help your family carry its own story forward.

An Italian Citizen, By Blood and By Heart

My connection to Italy is not just sentimental — it is legal, formal, and deeply personal. Through my grandparents' lineage, I hold Italian dual citizenship, recognized by the Italian government jure sanguinis — "by right of blood." When I walk the streets my family came from, I do so as a citizen coming home, not a tourist passing through.

That connection shapes everything about this company. Every piece we offer is carefully curated or handcrafted in Italy by skilled Italian artisans — from Murano glass and hand-carved cameos to Etruscan-inspired gold and the beloved Cornicello — carrying the authentic craftsmanship Italy has perfected over centuries.

Designed and Curated by Jennifer Derrig

I am a classically trained jewelry designer and an alumna of the prestigious Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. My journey in the jewelry industry began in the late 1990s, and in 2006 my husband and I founded The Irish Jewelry Company to honor his side of our family's heritage. In 2020, I turned my heart toward my own — creating The Italian Jewelry Company as a tribute to generations of Italian artistry, symbolism, and deeply rooted family values.

I am also the author of The Heritage Brand: How to Build a Heritage Brand People Love (2026), a book about why the things we inherit — and the things we wear — mean so much more than what they're made of.

What Authentic Italian Jewelry Means to Us

Italian jewelry is renowned worldwide for a reason: centuries of goldsmithing tradition, passed hand to hand from master to apprentice, from Etruscan tombs to Florentine workshops to the jewelers of Naples and Vicenza today. When we say a piece is made in Italy, we mean it carries that living inheritance.

Our collections celebrate the symbols Italian families have trusted for generations: the Cornicello horn that guards against the malocchio, the Cameo carved by hand as it has been for two hundred years, Murano glass born in Venetian fire, and designs inspired by ancient Rome, the Renaissance, and the House of Medici.

Our Promise to You

As my grandparents taught me: family is everything. When you wear our jewelry, you're family too. We promise you genuine Italian craftsmanship, honest quality, and pieces meaningful enough to become your own family's heirlooms — the gold your grandchildren will one day touch and remember you by.

Benvenuti nella famiglia. Welcome to the family.

Explore our Italian jewelry collections or discover the stories behind the traditions on our blog.