There's nothing macabre about my love for bones. As a child, I kept visiting the cemetery of a 17th-century Capuchin church with my nanny. All the rooms were decorated with human bones. My mother had to send me back, time and again, with a stolen bone in my little purse. Things that were forbidden to you remain with you forever. Later I was free to collect bones so I designed part of a world of beautiful shapes.

The initial idea came from my Aunt Nina's wedding ring. It was one-carat, set in silver with a gold band. My objective is to design according to one's financial possibilities. The rest was easy. Tiffany sold, in 1976, a single diamond on a gold chain for US$89. Adding different sizes—one-carat being the biggest—my creation became Diamonds by the Yard.

The appeal of this natural shape has remained constant for me through the years. And for a long time, I've kept its smoothness at the forefront of my mind when I design.

The shape was there, in metal. What I couldn't work out was how to hang it from the chain. Mr Kalich, then head of Tiffany jewellery, then suggested in his strong German accent: 'Why don't we put it through?' I was so overjoyed that I gave my first model to his fiancée.

It's not that I love snakes, but I've seen so many of them that I think they are beautiful.

See also: Bulgari Pairs Dom Pérignon Champagne With Fine Jewellery