Look Book

Winter 2025 | 43 AN E Y E FO R ARTI STRY In the late 1970s, Joe met the famed fashion and society photographer Victor Skrebneski, who was to play a pivotal role in Joe's career. Skrebneski's massive portfolio featured many major celebrities, including Hubert de Givenchy, Diana Ross, Bette Davis, Andy Warhol, and Audrey Hepburn; and a natural friendship with Joe—who had shied his focus to jewelry—began. Using dramatic lighting and cropping, they created sophisticated art photography for the fine jewelry market with a level of magic previously unseen in the industry. "Skimming ads in a magazine, you can tell the difference when an ad has been produced by Joe," enthuses TJB's Nicole Bromstad. "at came from Joe choosing only the best to partner with and produce his work." With a sense of experimentation and discovery, Joe's teams created images that were arresting to the eye, and packed what Alison Goudreault describes as a visual "gut punch." TH E PAD U LO J E W E L RY G RO U P — AN I N D U STRY FI RST In the mid-'80s, Joe established e Padulo Jewelry Group, a co-op program that brought together the finest luxury jewelry brands, such as Picchiotti and Oscar Heyman, with important independent US retailers like Cellini Jewelers (New York, NY), Dorfman Jewelers (Boston, MA), Eiseman Jewels (Dallas, TX), and Molina Fine Jewelers (Phoenix, AZ). Padulo's program afforded each retailer statewide exclusivity of the world's most magnificent designer jewelry, photographed by Skrebneski. Ads of this caliber were only seen in heretofore unattainable national luxury magazines such as Town & Country, Architectural Digest, and W; and instantly elevated the retailer and designer brands participating in the program, drawing new, ultra-high-net-worth buyers. e Padulo Jewelry Group program was an instant success and lasted for 35 years until its shut down due to the Covid pandemic. According to Goudreault, "is was made possible because of Joe's way of connecting people," adding, "He was the mortar between the bricks," as he forged relationships between publications and jewelers, thereby raising the bar on quality with his elevated taste level. Jewelers trusted and believed in him because he successfully provided them with some of the finest imagery they'd ever received.

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