Francisco Tortolani arrived in the US from Italy in 1923. His father was a jeweler and Francisco was going to continue his business. In Italy, Francisco graduated from design school, and after moving to the USA, Rhode Island, he opened the Mastercraft company. Tortolani is a tradition of excellence that spans more than four generations. A tradition that blends craftsmanship, family pride and dedication. A tradition of uncompromising standards, attention to detail and customer needs.
During World War II, when many jewelry companies were forced out of business due to metal shortages, Francisco (who had by then changed his name to Frank) signed a contract with the US government to produce metal tags for service dogs. During the war, Frank Tortolani produced wood jewelry. After the war, he moved to Los Angeles, where he founded a new company called Tortolani Jewelry.
In the 1950s, Tortolani began working with the cosmetics companies Max Factor and Avon.
Frank designed powder cases and figurine-shaped bottles that contained solid perfumes and lipsticks. Jewelry produced by “Tortolani” is recognizable at first sight, it is primarily an amazing zodiac collection, shoulder brooches with an angel and a demon, famous cactus jewelry and much more. But what distinguishes ”Tortolani’ jewelry from other brands is 3- D design, detailed elements and the almost complete absence of stones and crystals (with rare exceptions).
Tortolani fans at the time included such celebrities as Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin. However, the assortment of “Tortolani” was not limited to jewelry. The company also produced key chains, key rings, money clips, lighters, etc. Despite the belief that “Tortolani” produced jewelry from 1950 to 1976, this is not entirely true.
In the mid-1960s, Frank decided to retire and closed the jewelry factory.
Items marked “Tortolani” continued to be produced, but these were mostly men’s “business gifts”: card holders, commemorative medals, keys to the city, photo frames, letter openers and other “related products”. Frank returned to the jewelry business when he was 70 years old and began producing costume jewelry under the Corina brand. Basically, these were crown brooches and brooches in the form of musical instruments.
Frank Tortolani passed away in 1997. But his work lives on to this day. Currently, the third and fourth generations of the Tortolani family specialize in high quality promotional products, creating detailed sculptures, gifts, awards, frames, and many other compositions in pewter, gold, silver, lucite and wood using a centuries-old centrifugal casting process from pure molten metals.
