Pleased to meet you,call me Alberto.Sometimes.
Jewelry, stories and other good ideas off the beaten path.
As Vezes Me Chama Alberto
A jewelry brand would be easier to explain. But it wouldn't be this one.
As Vezes Me Chama Alberto was born around jewelry and, along the way, ran into Murano glass, pearls, fashion, characters, stories, gumdrops and a few ideas we still don't know exactly where they'll end up.
We don't consider that a problem. Jewelry is still at the center.
What changes is everything we decide to put around it.
We like materials with history, objects with personality and combinations that don't seem to have been picked by an algorithm.
We like elegance when it doesn't take itself too seriously.
Tradition, when it still allows a little disobedience.
And the idea that a piece of jewelry can have value without having to work as a status symbol.
Every brand needs
a story.
Ours has a timeline that's best left unquestioned.
He sold handbags.
She could find eggs even under a rooster.
Naturally, they ended up together.
Alberto and Sofia are behind most of our brand's questionable decisions.
ALBERTO
Alberto is a survivor of the Peloponnesian War. He lost his whole family in the war and decided to sail to Brazil to try his luck, hoping to leave all the tension behind — which didn't happen, because Alberto is dyslexic and ended up in the land of temptation.
All of this back in the distant 1950s.
Since his money only got him as far as Bahia, he was bounced off the ship in Salvador. The dashing young man tried vatapá. Little did he know his ancestors were already hooked on the delicacy. From then on, Alberto kept puffing up and puffing up, without ever losing his tenderness. When people started calling him Bolacha (Cookie), Alberto decided it was time to head to the capital of Brazil, since in Bahia everything is about the sea and Alberto has no calling as a fisherman.
In Rio de Janeiro he walked into a wholesale handbag factory. He took the prettiest ones on consignment and sold them all the same day. He came back for more and the salesman, astonished, asked him: “how?” And the answer came right away: “I sell purses, pouches and p@&$ies.”
And so Alberto built fame and fortune and was invited to society's most elegant salons, always remembering that first day in Rio.
At one of those dazzling parties, he met Sofia.
SOFIA
Sofia is the daughter of a great Brazilian industrialist. "Industrialist" is a manner of speaking. Her father ran a
general store in the Baixada Fluminense and, when they decided to build the Flamengo landfill, Mr. José was the first to show up with a truckload of sand. Truck after truck, he raised the landfill and built Brasília in 5 years, along with his fortune, which grew more in those 5 years than in 50.
Mr. José's daughter is Sofia. At 10, she was already selling eggs at the grocery store. At 18, by then a millionaire princess,
she didn't give up the eggs. On the contrary, she found eggs even under a rooster.
But Sofia doesn't beat around the bush, and Mr. José is proud of his fearless daughter. Her mother, not so much.
Nobody can hold Sofia back, and she gets bored quickly at the balls of Rio's grand monde.
At 21, she saw Bolacha show up at a party — I mean, Alberto. And she heard, firsthand,
the story of the bags: purses, pouches and… I can't say it anymore in prime time.
And she grabbed Alberto because Alberto was different. He was clever and quick, just like her.
Sofia and Alberto are now around 50 (forget the timeline).
They're lively, very lively. They're business partners and they complete each other. Alberto is gentler; Sofia, more assertive. The scene between Dona Odete and Freitas is based on a story about Sofia's way of working: 'Freitas, I thought you liked to suffer.'
She's chic, knows how to dress and is smart. More curious than erudite, over the years she has built up quite a cultural background. She can talk to the fashionable writer, the steel tycoon and the cleaning lady. She just has no patience for socialites and influencers.
She has a voracious sexual appetite. Alberto suffers and can't always keep up.
They have two children, a boy and a girl, both in their late twenties.
I'll tell you more later.
The jewelry
Some are discreet.
Others made a considerable effort not to be.
We have pieces in gold, silver, pearls and Murano, among other combinations Alberto approves of.
Sofia, on the other hand… might change a thing or two.
Discover a selection made to join your wardrobe without necessarily obeying what was already there.
Gold needs no introduction.
We made one anyway.
Our gold selection comes from a long relationship with fine jewelry and brings together pieces chosen for their design, their presence and their ability to stay interesting and valuable long after the occasion is over.
See gold pieces
Murano doesn't do beige.
Made according to a centuries-old tradition of Italian art glass, Murano shows up here in colors, transparencies and small differences that are part of its personality.
We especially like it when it meets pearls, silver or anything else that, in principle, someone might say shouldn't be there.
See Murano pieces
Pearls have a reputation to uphold.
We don't always help.
We like them classic, baroque, naturally colored (no added preservatives), long, close to the neck and, especially, when they meet materials that make everything a little less predictable.
Tradition is great, as long as it doesn't become an obligation.
See pearl pieces
Silver knows how to turn heads too.
Especially when no one asks it to pretend to be something else.
We selected pieces that move between more classic constructions and more relaxed designs, including combinations with Murano and other elements.
See silver pieces
Gumdrop jewels or jewel gumdrops?
The short explanation is that
we like them.
The long explanation involves a special recipe of Brazilian and exotic fruits, a persistent idea and the conviction that some things simply don't need to be explained.
We hope to have more news on the subject soon.
Are we
for you?
We don’t have an ideal woman.
We have many!
The one who has worn gold for thirty years.
The one who just found out she likes pearls.
The one who would buy the necklace her mother would hate.
The one who knows the rule.
The one who didn't know there was one.
The one who came looking for a piece of jewelry.
And the one who came in just to see what Alberto has done this time.
Things that interest us.
Some have to do with jewelry. We don't promise
they all will.
This is As Vezes Me Chama Alberto's space to talk about objects,
fashion, film, behavior, travel, people, references, taste and happenings in Alberto and Sofia's lives that might eventually deserve public record.
Something useful may turn up. It's also possible it won't.
Did onecatch
your eye?
If a piece caught your attention, we already have a very useful piece of information.
To check availability, prices and other details about a piece, talk to us directly on our digital channels.
No cart. No fifteen screens until checkout.
A conversation usually does the trick.