Haute jewellery pieces almost always incite wonder with their intricacies and ornate elegance. The vivid, detailed sketches that are the start of them all are equally museum-worthy. Here’s a showcase of the latest.
Haute jewellery pieces almost always incite wonder with their intricacies and ornate elegance. The vivid, detailed sketches that are the start of them all are equally museum-worthy. Here’s a showcase of the latest.
CARTIER
The French jeweller updates its year-old Etourdissant (French for “dazzling”) collection with a vintage-inspired platinum bracelet swathed in rubies, onyx and brilliant-cut diamonds. Like the rest of the line, the result is a punchy and playfully elegant showpiece Wallis Simpson would approve of.
TIFFANY & CO.
The American jeweller’s annual Blue Book, which debuted in 1845, is like a couture catalogue that showcases its most elaborate masterpieces. This year’s edition boasts 200 styles that draw from nature. Among the standouts: an intricate platinum cuff designed to look like a pretty eruption of ferns with almost 60 carats of marquise-, pear- and round-shaped brilliant diamonds. This year also marks the brand’s strongest showing for coloured gemstones, as seen in these platinum earrings with tanzanites, diamonds and blue cuprian elbaite tourmalines.
CHANEL
Wheat was one of Coco Chanel’s lucky charms, filling her 31 Rue Cambon apartment and villa in La Pausa (from fresh bunches of it to a Salvador Dali painting, and even an Art Deco wheat sheaf cocktail table). The motif is now translated to 62 unique pieces in the Les Bles de Chanel collection that take inspiration from the plant’s life cycle, like this intricate white gold and diamond Legende de Ble necklace depicting an ear of wheat.
MOUAWAD
In its 126-year history, the Beirut jeweller has gained a reputation for making extravagant, record-breaking designs that are a hit with royalty and high society. Case in point: this Columbiana 18K white gold bib necklace with 887 diamonds (about 132 carats), as well as over 62 carats worth of emeralds.
PIAGET
For its Secrets & Lights collection, the Swiss jeweller takes a cue from Venice’s architecture and culture, with the city’s masquerade balls inspiring this hypnotically elegant cuff, a collaboration with feather artist Nelly Saunier. The diamond ring, meanwhile, mimics the Venetian night sky, sliding open to reveal a blue enamelled disc dotted with diamonds that form the Leo constellation.
DIOR
How does the brand’s whimsical high jewellery maestro Victoire de Castellane reinterpret Versailles’ Rococo interiors and furnishings? The crystal tassel of a chandelier becomes a diamond drop necklace, while curtain tie-backs inspire diamond drop earrings. The inclusion of elements such as oxidised silver plays up the 18th century slant.
