Nautical Charm: High jewellery pieces inspired by the ocean

For centuries, the allure of the deep sea has served as inspiration for many artistic creations – be it the undulating waves of the high seas or the marine life that inhabit the diverse watery depths. Its captivating beauty and awe-inspiring seascapes transport the senses to a world beyond the familiar. Yet its expanse remains an intriguing mystery. It is the vastness and lure of the ocean that allows the artistic mind to roam free – inspiring maisons of haute joaillerie to re-imagine life under the sea and create ocean-inspired motifs that pay homage to the charm of the nautical world.

From Chopard’s red carpet ring to Van Cleef & Arpel’s Seven Seas collection to Gübelin’s Grace of the Sea Anemone cocktail ring, these fine works of jewellery for the fingers, wrist and décolletage are masterfully crafted and set with the rarest and most dazzling of semi-precious gemstones and diamonds to reflect the essence of maritime beauty.

  1. Fawaz Gruosi High Jewellery Collection
  2. Fabio Salini Necklace
  3. Gubelin Grace of the Sea Anemone Cocktail Ring
  4. Chopard Red Carpet Collection
  5. Van Cleef & Arpels Seven Seas Caspiansea Clip Mysterieuses
  6. Van Cleef & Arpels Seven Seas Caspiansea Clip Trois Tortues
  7. Tasaki Eveil Ear Cuff
  8. Annoushka Hidden Reef Cuff
  9. Pomalleto Sabbia Ring
  10. Aurelie Bidermann Necklace
  11. Chanel Bo Precious Float Earrings
  12. Cindy Chao Art Jewel Collection Coral Earrings

Neck’s Best Thing: Stunning décolleté dazzlers for this season’s soirées

There’s no stronger way to make a statement than to adorn your neck with a stunning, sparkling necklace. Whether it’s a thick choker-style design like Bulgari’s Mediterranean Queen necklace, open-worked creations like Van Cleef & Arpels’ Trésor Astral number or dangling dazzlers like Chanel’s Allure Céleste necklace, there are attention-grabbing bejewelled bijouterie for every special occasion.

To ensure your statement necklace does all the talking, opting for the right neckline is key. Strapless, off-the-shoulder or v-neck gowns or tops are a must when it comes to showing off your chosen accessory to perfection. Avoid clashing with strong patterns or detailing. Rather, monochromatic ensembles can pair perfectly with a strong necklace, provided that it is form-fitting and one colour throughout. However you choose to match your stunning piece of jewellery, with these gorgeous creations, all eyes are sure to be on you.

In the photos:

  1. Van Cleef & Arpels Trésor Astral
  2. Graff New Dawn
  3. Buccellati Étoilée
  4. Bulgari Mediterranean Queen
  5. Harry Winston Blue Python
  6. Chanel Allure Céleste
  7. Gübelin Dancing Dunes 

(Text: Tenzing Thondup)

 

Also Read: The sensual dual-appeal of transformable jewellery

The sensual dual-appeal of transformable jewellery

Since the early days of the last century, transformable jewellery has been the staple of many of the world’s foremost luxury brands. This has seen such luminaries as Cartier, Chaumet and Van Cleef & Arpels create some of the most technically complex items in their long histories.

Boucheron New Maharajah transformable necklace
Boucheron New Maharajah transformable necklace

While popularised in the 20th century, such items first appeared almost 100 years ago, at a time when such inventive jewellery was strictly the province of royalty. With many weighty items worn solely on specific occasions, it fell to a number of regally-approved jewellers to tweak several royal favourites, allowing them to be worn across a variety of different engagements.

Cartier Imperio transformable necklace
Cartier Imperio transformable necklace

This saw items created with mix-and-match reassembly as a fundamental part of the design. It was a conceit that was soon to enter the mainstream. With the aid of clips, clasps and brackets, today’s jewellery-adept buyers can easily transform a large item into several complementary smaller ones, frequently cross-matching them with other styles or marques.

Van Cleef & Arpels ZIP transformable necklace

Given their facility for a chameleon-esque shift from mood to mood, occasion to occasion and role to role, it’s not difficult to see why the contemporary woman has such an affinity with these fluid adornments. After all, what better symbol could there be for her own multi-faceted engagement with the demands of 21st-century life?

Double Digits: Mesmerizing multi-finger rings…

No longer do statement rings solely need to grace a single finger. In fact, thanks to a spur of beautiful creativity from the world’s leading haute joaillerie houses, they can now span across the hand, ranging from between-the-finger creations that peek out between the gaps of your digits to attention-grabbing numbers that meander across multiple fingers.

Such bejewelled pieces need not be overly ostentatious, though. In fact, some designs are purposefully demure, as aptly demonstrated by Chanel’s rose gold Extrait de Camelia transformable ring or Yoko London’s elegantly minimalist diamond-and-pearl creation. At the other end of the spectrum, however, are eye-catching jewellery fronted by dazzling gemstones of every imaginable hue. Take, for instance, Dior’s Dior et Moi black opal design, whose kaleidoscopic colouring is sure to ensnare any passing gaze. Then there’s the gorgeous leaf-like Plumage ring from British designer Stephen Webster, which features a plethora of emeralds and diamonds across its three-finger span.

A true showstopper, though, is luxury jeweller Piaget’s Mediterranean Garden ring. Featuring roses adorned with some 200 brilliant-cut diamonds, the purple and pink spinels add a welcome splash of colour to the attention-grabbing two-finger design.

 

Also Read: Men’s jewellery is back in style – Top trends here!

 

 

The full version of this feature appears on Gafencu Magazine’s January 2022 print issue as ❝Double Digits❞ by Tenzing Thondup. Download the free app (iOSAndroid) for digital editions of the magazine.

 

Haute Joaillerie houses embrace stunning rainbow hues in their designs

In contemporary times, the rainbow has come to symbolise hope and new beginnings, so it’s no surprise that haute joaillerie houses the world over have embraced this motif during the current Covid-dominant times. Gone are the days when single-colour styles were in vogue, and in their place are a veritable treasure trove of prismatic designs, pieces that unabashedly embrace a multi-hued appeal.

Subtler creations are imbued with an ombré effect, one that utilises precious gemstones of similar colours to create a graduated look. A prime example of this is the stunning necklace from premium Japanese brand Tasaki’s latest High Jewellery collection, and Tiffany & Co.’s Colors of Nature necklace.

More outré designs that truly reflect the kaleidoscopic nature of rainbows, meanwhile, are also on offer from such luxury labels as Bulgari, with its vivid, gem-studded Multicolore necklace, and Boucheron’s multifaceted ring.

  1. Boucheron ring
  2. Bulgari Multicolore necklace
  3. Piaget Extraordinary Lights earrings
  4. Harry Winston Sparks earrings
  5. Robinson Pelham Synchronicity Rainbow Ray Inner ring
  6. Rosior multicolour earrings
  7. Tasaki High Jewellery necklace
  8. Tiffany & Co. Colors of Nature necklace

 

Cuff Love: Gifts for the wrists…

Images: Cartier Juste un Clou bracelet; Tiffany & Co. Elsa Peretti Bone cuffs

Few jewellery designs can hope to match the longevity of the cuff bracelet. Indeed, these open C-shaped creations first came to prominence some 7,000 years back, a time when they were worn by both male and female members of ancient Incan, Mayan, Roman and Egyptian royalty. Crafted from a variety of metals and set with precious gemstones, these accessories served as symbols of their undeniably lofty status.

Images: Gucci bracelet; FRED Collier bracelet; Chopard Precious Lace bracelet; Chaumet Perspectives de Chaumet yellow gold cuff; Jewelry by Marsha cuff; Diamond Scene wide diamond cuff.

In the intervening millennia since those long-ago days, cuff bracelets – those designed to adorn the wrist with nary a clasp or fastening in sight – remain a constant of the haute joaillerie world. Now largely favoured by the fairer sex, they can be worn on one hand as a solo piece or simultaneously on two in a style akin to the amulets of old.

Imaes: Fortunoff diamond and sapphire cuff; Takahiromiyashita Thesoloist silver single bone shaped cuff; Buccellati Ortensia cuff; Bahdos two-tone diamond cuff bracelet; Page Sargisson hand-carved bracelet; Nicole Rose Fine Jewelry cuff bracelet

Available in a myriad of hues and sizes, while being flexible to the extreme, the more minimalist designs – notably Cartier’s Juste un Clou creation or Chopard’s Precious Lace bracelet – can easily be worn on an everyday basis. When dressing up for special occasions, though, a more ostentatious look be guaranteed through the deployment of larger statement pieces, such as Fortunoff’s dazzling sapphire-and-diamond number or Buccellati’s Ortensia cuff.

 

Star Power: Cosmic jewellery in contemporary culture

Despite personkind having first set foot on the moon some 50 years ago, intermittently successful unmanned missions to Mars and, most recently, candid snaps of a black hole at play, outer space remains very much the Great Unknown, a region that fascinates and terrifies mere earthbound mortals in almost equal measure. The Final Frontier, as it was memorably billed by one TV sci-fi franchise, continues to inspire in countless mediums, with its depths explored almost as thoroughly by the human imagination as by any high-tech NASA probe.

Cosmic jewellery pieces

With the night sky seemingly a celestial diamond array, it’s no surprise that haute joaillerie brands have so oft looked to the heavens for inspiration, with the sun, the moon and the stars frequently motifed in cosmic jewellery designs by many of the leading marques. This is evident in such high-end offerings as Cartier’s Les Galaxies de Cartier collection or Piaget’s Sunlight Escape collection.

While some jewellery designers have turned to otherworldly materials to render their works in a truly stellar style – most notably milky quartz, moonstones or rock crystals – others have opted for iconic astral avatars. Of the latter, this has seen Chopard’s Happy Diamonds pendant necklace give the sun star billing, while Buccellati’s black-gold Macri cuff bracelet has more than a little of the night about it.

Of course, given this is the world of haute joaillerie, regardless of any piece’s lunar leanings or solar stylings, the price of any cosmic jewellery, too, is almost guaranteed to be somewhat astronomical.