Valentine’s Gift Guide: Bulgari Icons Minaudières Are as Covetable as Fine Jewelry

Valentine’s gifts tend to fall into familiar categories—flowers, jewelry, something wrapped in a velvet box. The Bulgari Icons Minaudières sit slightly outside that pattern; they’re bags, after all, even if they are too small to accommodate a phone and designed with little interest in practicality.

But trust us: Your Valentine will love it for more reasons than one. They occupy a space closer to fine jewelry than to handbags, and each minaudière, while they might not be capacious enough for your phone, are vessels for books, in miniature, authored by five women honored by Bulgari as icons themselves.

Conceived by Mary Katrantzou, Bulgari’s Creative Director of Leather Goods and Accessories, the Icons Minaudière collection translates five of the Roman house’s most enduring motifs into sculptural metal forms and are produced using techniques typically associated with high jewelry (lost-wax casting, hand-applied enamel, pavé settings, and stone inlay). And, every minaudière has an even smaller version that’s no less stunning.

“This collection celebrates the living heritage of Bulgari’s Icons, symbols that have transcended design to become part of our cultural language. Each minaudière was conceived not simply to hold objects, but to hold meaning, blending high craftsmanship with cultural storytelling,” says designer Mary Katrantzou.

For Valentine’s Day, they make a case for gifts that feel less purchased than bestowed.

Serpenti Minaudière

The Serpenti Minaudière distills Bulgari’s most enduring emblem into a compact, sculptural form: the serpent’s head, articulated in gold-finished aluminum and brass embellished with emerald green, feroza turquoise, perla white and black enamel scales, and dark emerald crystal eyes. It is paired with Notes on Honoring Tradition by Linda Evangelista.

Monete Minaudière

Referencing Bulgari’s long fascination with classical antiquity, the Monete Minaudière centers on a recreated Roman coin, enlarged and reframed in gold-finished aluminum and palladium antique-finished brass with a Roman-coin inspired centerpiece framed by red enamel, crystal silver-colored zirconia stones, and a red crystal closure. It is accompanied by Notes on Listening to Nature by Isabella Rosellini.

Divas’ Dream Minaudière

Inspired by the fan-shaped mosaics of the Baths of Caracalla, the Divas’ Dream Minaudière translates classical geometry into a curved metal shell softened by jewel inlays. The minaudière is rendered in gold-finished aluminum and palladium-finished brass embellished with dark amethyst, light amethyst, tiger eye, mother-of-pearl and dark malachite inserts, and zirconia stones. It is paired with Notes on Cultivating Inner Calm by Kim Ji-won.

Tubogas Minaudière

The Tubogas Minaudière interprets Bulgari’s signature flexible metal technique as a coiled structure wrapped around a central, egg-like form in black lizard leather and a Serpenti Tubogas detail in gold-finished brass with zirconia accents on the head and tail. Nestled in the bag is Notes on Finding Home by Sumayya Vally.

BVLGARI BVLGARI Minaudière

Cylindrical and graphic, the Bulgari Bulgari Minaudière channels the maison’s iconic double logo into a precise, architectural object fashioned in gold-finished aluminum and brass with intarsia mother-of-pearl inserts and a press-button closure with a mother-of-pearl clasp. The minaudière is accompanied by a specially designed miniature book, Notes on Creating Culture by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, perfectly designed to fit its shape.

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