Bvlgari Marks Diwali With 4,500 Terracotta Lights

For Diwali this year, Bvlgari has teamed up with Indian artist Doyel Joshi on “Passing the Light,” a large installation made from terracotta. It’s the latest step in a relationship with India that the Roman jeweler has been building for years, and this time the focus is on craft, community and the festival of lights itself.

Diyas, reimagined in Serpenti scales

The centerpiece is made of 4,500 hand-sculpted terracotta pieces. Each one is inspired by the traditional diya, the small clay oil lamp lit across India during Diwali. Together they’re arranged in the scale pattern of Bvlgari’s Serpenti motif, one of the house’s best-known designs. When lit, the installation throws shifting patterns of light and shadow across the space.

Made with the kumhar community

The project is built around co-authorship. The pieces were shaped by artisans from the kumhar community, India’s traditional potters, and by local craftswomen working through a social enterprise. Bvlgari and Joshi present these makers as co-creators, not just suppliers, with Joshi’s contemporary concept sitting alongside skills that have been passed down for generations.

Why terracotta

Terracotta has a long history in India, used for objects that are sacred, everyday and personal all at once. At Diwali, the clay diya carries meanings of hope, renewal and togetherness. For Joshi, the material is also about the knowledge held inside it: techniques and rituals handed from one maker to the next.

That idea of handing down is where the brand connection comes in. Bvlgari draws a parallel with its own workshops, where goldsmithing techniques move from one generation of craftspeople to the next.

More than something to look at

The installation is meant to be experienced together, not just viewed. Its theme is continuity: creativity, memory and relationships carried forward, with light as the thread connecting them.