Celebrity Life

A consultant with extensive experience with top collectors and institutions around the world, Wendy Goldsmith talks to us about navigating the art world, her changing clientele, the Western market and Asian collectors.

Wendy Goldsmith first joined renowned British auction house Christie's 19th Century European Art department in London over 20 years ago. There, she would travel across Europe and West Asia, sourcing key material for auctions and heavily contributing to the house's name and fame. After becoming its youngest Director and Auctioneer, she moved to New York and became the International Head of 19th Century European Art. In 2003, she returned to London and established herself as a private art consultant – Goldsmith Art Advisory.

Goldsmith's experience includes achieving some world-record prices in the art auctioning world while working with top collectors and institutions around the world. These days, she works out of her Mayfair office, focusing on Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary paintings and sculpture. We talk to her about the importance of art advisors, navigating the art world and the Western market, and the changing face of Asian collectors.

Goldsmith Art Advisory's Wendy Goldsmith on Navigating the Art World

Where have you been spending time over the past two years?

The last two years have been spent mainly in the UK. When not working in London, I was exploring many of the regional British museums and staycationing in some of our gorgeous country hotels whenever openings allowed. The only trip abroad was a trip to America last spring when I was able to sneak in due to my American passport. It had been too long not to see clients.

Have you been able to travel when possible during the pandemic and have you noticed people's travel patterns changing due to it?

It was exceedingly difficult for people to travel, hence almost impossible for them to view paintings and attend art fairs – because they simply didn't exist. The vaccine became the gamechanger, allowing the confidence for globetrotting to the world’s cultural capitals once again.

Has the demographic of your client base altered in any way in recent years?

There is no question that the clients have become younger and younger and younger, and they start at a much higher level; in my day you'd have 50, 60, and 70-year-olds buying the great works and the younger ones would start collecting with prints. Now you have 25-year-olds starting with seven-figure pictures which, having done this for so long, I still find extraordinary. 40 percent of the new clients at auction are under 30, as they are so comfortable buying online as well which is where all the sales seamlessly moved to over lockdown. In addition, the depth of the market is like nothing we've ever seen. Almost every country is involved – there were many years when certain nationalities would dominate; the Japanese in the late 80s, then the Russians, then the Italians yet now, literally everyone is enjoying the ride, with Asia leading the way.

Are there particular types of works that are notably popular at the moment?

Art that is popular to Western buyers has been filtering over to the Asian audience over the last few seasons. Now you have Western artists appearing more and more in the Hong Kong sales, which we never saw before when they were dominated almost purely by Asian artists. The experiment was a great success, especially as Asian collectors are educated and sophisticated, wanting to collect in-depth. They started with the obvious artists such as Andy Warhol, but have moved on to the likes of Nicholas Party – not necessarily a household name for those outside of the art world.

Are there obstacles to accessing specific works from the Western market for Asian collectors? How can these obstacles be overcome?

The problem with the current market is that everyone seems to gravitate to the same artists, which makes access the most difficult hurdle. Working with an advisor helps to overcome these obstacles. They have usually worked for years to cultivate relationships with the galleries, along with various other key colleagues, in order for their clients to have priority for the next great work to appear by their coveted artist. The other way to gain access is auctioning, which is why we have seen some outstanding prices in recent years. The person who puts their hand up in the air longest is the one who wins. Cash is king. It’s the great equaliser, without any waiting lists.

How has the pandemic affected your own ways of working?

Technology changed everything, and thank goodness we had it. Viewings were impossible over lockdown although, at one point, I did have a warehouse opened up exclusively to show a client one painting. The entire warehouse was completely empty, except for the managing director showing us around. I had to pull a lot of strings to make that happen, but it was the only way that deal could have gone through. That was early on during Covid but as time went on, collectors became more and more accustomed to buying online, especially new ones, once they were familiar with an artist and could see a high res jpeg, or had faith in the seller such as the brand names of Christie’s or Sotheby’s.

How would you say the pandemic has affected the buying and selling behaviours of your clients? How so for a wider collector base?

It remains a problem for Asian collectors, especially Chinese, as they literally cannot leave the country. Nevertheless, when there is an exhibition in say, Hong Kong, there are queues out the door. Local collectors can’t go elsewhere to view and experience art, so this is a very big event for them, even more so than usual. Art Basel Hong Kong was a huge success in March. Then the series of auctions held at Christie's, Sotheby's and Phillips saw some extraordinary numbers from this captive audience.

When looking at recent sales in Hong Kong, is there anything notable in the types of collectors? Or the prices reached for particular works?

There is a trend in every sale. At the moment, collectors are looking at Black artists, they're looking at women artists and even within this field, they are looking at female surrealist artists. Every collector is always looking for the next big thing which speeds up exponentially. This again stems from technology. There's such unprecedented access to information so people's tastes are constantly in flux.

More broadly, art fairs in Hong Kong (from Art Basel in May to Unscheduled more recently) have in 2021 reported strong sales – do you have any comments on this in terms of what it says about the market in general? Does this have longevity?

The art world is not going anywhere. Again, there's just greater and greater depth of the market as a whole new generation of worldwide buyers come into the marketplace. The younger collectors obviously start at the contemporary side of things with what their friends are collecting and what they understand. Sometimes, they then work backwards to early modern, which looks like such good value in comparison at the moment. On the other hand, their parents started with some classic names they knew from their art history books – Van Gogh to Renoir to Picasso – but as these artists become harder and harder to come by (as well as increasingly more expensive), some of them realise that it was actually more fun in a way, once they collected what they wanted, to move on to contemporary. So it's really interesting where all the generations are meeting.

What might be your predictions as we come out of lockdown?

As we come out of lockdown, people are going to be more and more selective of the number of art fairs they attend, as well as the actual auctions. Having said that, they are also grasping any opportunity to see art in person once more. You can become familiar with paintings by a particular artist but nothing duplicates the experience of actually standing in front of a work of art. Interacting with artists is also the lifeblood for collectors – they love a good studio visit. They get great satisfaction from meeting with artists, understanding their thought processes, seeing their progress, supporting them and often, becoming friends. It is a dynamic that will last for hundreds of years.

Are there art fairs you have booked to visit in your calendar currently, now that some areas are opening up?

The size and numbers of art fairs may become reduced as many of the smaller galleries are realizing that without the huge expenses of these overheads, between travel, shipping and hotel costs, plus of course the cost of renting a booth for the fair, they can do just as much and more with .jpg and online viewing rooms. It’s also an impetus to get clients back into bricks and mortar galleries and view proper exhibitions. Nevertheless, I am looking forward to Art Basel Miami in early December, along with some excellent satellite fairs. Plus, everyone is in a good mood in the sun.

How can people try to navigate a complicated and increasingly overwhelming market?

The art world has become an almost impossible beast to navigate, even for professionals. That's why an art advisor is so essential if you're going to take collecting seriously. It would be physically impossible for a layperson to go to all the exhibitions, auction viewings, museum shows, gallery openings I attend, as well as read all the websites I look at, the previews for the shows and art fairs – not to mention the endless auction catalogues. So you really need someone in your corner: a support system, a teacher and an educator to really understand the complexities of this absolute minefield, especially when there can be so much money on the line. Art advisors pay for themselves, just in that aspect alone.

What advice would you give to burgeoning collectors unsure of how to build their collections?

You can't see enough. Look at art anywhere, anytime and at any opportunity. Start to really understand your taste which is why it also helps to see the bad, in order to understand the good. It can take years to gain the confidence and education to build a collection so there’s no need to rush but if you’re still unsure, some professional advice would make all the difference.

You can find out about Wendy Goldsmith and Goldsmith Art Advisory here.

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We take a look at some zodiac-inspired high jewellery, perfect for winter this year.

Our long-established fascination with the stars has led us to some celestial fine jewels and more...

Van Cleef & Arpels: Zodiaque Collection

The new Zodiaque collection from Van Cleef & Arpels draws inspiration from two of the Maison's most cherished inspirations, nature and astronomy. It also references the coloured pendants from the 1970s. The 12 long necklaces in the collection reinterpret the signs of the Zodiac, with motifs adorning both sides of the medallions in gold and rare ornamental stone.

Jessie V E: Constellation collection

Jessie V E first designed her Constellation collection back in 2014. It’s been a bestseller since then — no small wonder, given that our fascination with the heavens dates back millennia. The designs are delicate, featuring rings, glittering necklaces and little hoop earrings dotted with your choice of star sign, which makes them great for giving, either for yourself or loved ones.

Chanel: Escale à Venise collection

Paying homage to the lion — both as a symbol of power and Gabrielle Chanel’s astrological sign — the new Escale à Venise high jewellery collection features the city’s patron saint, the Lion of St Mark, in a beautiful set of rings, earrings and necklaces. This ring features a blue 30.92-carat sapphire flanked by two diamond lion heads.

Gucci: Hortus Deliciarum

There’s a whole universe captured in Gucci's second high-jewellery collection, Hortus Deliciarum, from exotic horticulture and majestic beasts to striking constellations. The Gucci nightfall necklace, inspired by a starry night sky, features an explosion of 57 fancy diamonds and 357 diamonds.

Shahla Karimi: Zodiac Reveal Rings

In Shahla Karimi’s Zodiac Reveal rings, diamonds representing stars are spread throughout the band, so ascertaining the constellation and wearer’s zodiac sign is like discovering a little secret. With a thick band of 14k ethical gold, the rings look best worn on the pinky finger.

The post A Brave New World: Exploring Louis Vuitton’s Bicentenary Jewellery Collection appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

As Chaumet's CEO Jean-Marc Mansvelt tells us, bringing the house's 240-year heritage into the modern era is an immense task that amounts to a "daily obsession". But if the new pieces in the Chaumet Joséphine collection are anything to go by, the Place Vendôme stalwart is heading in the right direction.

What kind of woman today does the Joséphine collection appeal to?

First, it’s about a woman with a certain character. Because when you choose to wear a tiara on your finger, you’re making a choice of distinction, a choice of character. You’re sending a message to say you’re not like everyone else and you have a certain strength and a certain personality. But also a sense of virtuosity, grace and beauty, because it’s not for women who want to be too provocative.

It’s a way to set your personality. And then of course, there are two major reasons to become a client of Joséphine. On one side, it remains one of the favourite pieces chosen for a bridal purpose. It’s connected to the initial history of Chaumet, the history of the power and love between Napoleon and Joséphine. And Napoleon is known everywhere, that’s incredible. There’s another type of client on the other side of the connection with the pearls, the coloured stones, something a bit easier and more accessible.

This year, Chaumet's creations have also incorporated sleeker, more modern takes on the tiara. Can you tell us a bit about the new high jewellery?

After many creations that were a bit more tiara-like, a bit more decorative, more visible, more baroque in a certain way, we wanted to enrich the collection with new ways to mix and match, and to go for designs that were slicker, with a more minimalist approach, because that’s also the style of today. We have a feeling that clients today are a little more understated, and we have the capacity to create beauty through a fine line, rather than an accumulation. So one of our high- jewellery pieces, which is sort of a V with a stone in suspension, doesn’t shout about its design. It’s all about balance.

This year is the 10th anniversary of the Joséphine collection...

But we don’t mark it that way for two reasons. I always feel that if you start doing anniversaries for everything, then at the end, what’s the meaning in it? Last year, when we did the 240 years of Chaumet, that was slightly different. For Chaumet, our heritage is much longer than a decade, it’s about centuries. Instead, this year, we’re celebrating our connection with the 200th anniversary of the death of Napoleon, which is significant in Europe and in France. We’ve done an exhibition at 12 Place Vendôme that was open to the public which tells the love story of Napoleon and Josephine through 150 different objects, beautiful loans from museums and private owners.

Which piece proved to be the most challenging piece in the collection?

The most discussed and the most debated one was the watch. Because we’re clearly a jeweller, and we’ve focused all our efforts and attention on jewellery. But since a few years ago, we’ve reassessed and repositioned what watches mean for Chaumet. It’s true that with the business of watches within Chaumet, we’ve really tried to be coherent with what the story of watchmaking for Chaumet is as a jeweller. One of our challenges was to look at the market – in the market, 90 percent of watches are round – and nobody’s waiting for Chaumet to create a round watch, because we already have thousands of beautiful options on the market.

We decided on a shaped watch, and it wasn’t very difficult to settle on the pear shape, like an illusion of a diamond. We also faceted the watch’s dial.

How do you balance 240 years of heritage behind a brand and stay relevant at the same time?

That’s really the obsession every single day. How do we continue the narrative, the link to the story? Since the pandemic, we’ve seen clients choose Chaumet because there’s longevity. And so it becomes a daily obsession of ours to convey this message to our clients through different means, including the digital approach, so we can speak to the needs of our audience today. We also go through the traditional channels and have books and exhibitions. I regularly write down on paper in two columns: on one side, how much do we tell the story of Chaumet, and on the other, how do we take a contemporary approach, either through the narrative or through using different tools? I take a step back and ask myself is there a balance? If we’re going too much in one direction, maybe it’s time to rebalance. It’s in everything we do.

The post Van Cleef & Arpels: One Enchanted Evening appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

As Chaumet's CEO Jean-Marc Mansvelt tells us, bringing the house's 240-year heritage into the modern era is an immense task that amounts to a "daily obsession". But if the new pieces in the Chaumet Joséphine collection are anything to go by, the Place Vendôme stalwart is heading in the right direction.

What kind of woman today does the Joséphine collection appeal to?

First, it’s about a woman with a certain character. Because when you choose to wear a tiara on your finger, you’re making a choice of distinction, a choice of character. You’re sending a message to say you’re not like everyone else and you have a certain strength and a certain personality. But also a sense of virtuosity, grace and beauty, because it’s not for women who want to be too provocative.

It’s a way to set your personality. And then of course, there are two major reasons to become a client of Joséphine. On one side, it remains one of the favourite pieces chosen for a bridal purpose. It’s connected to the initial history of Chaumet, the history of the power and love between Napoleon and Joséphine. And Napoleon is known everywhere, that’s incredible. There’s another type of client on the other side of the connection with the pearls, the coloured stones, something a bit easier and more accessible.

This year, Chaumet's creations have also incorporated sleeker, more modern takes on the tiara. Can you tell us a bit about the new high jewellery?

After many creations that were a bit more tiara-like, a bit more decorative, more visible, more baroque in a certain way, we wanted to enrich the collection with new ways to mix and match, and to go for designs that were slicker, with a more minimalist approach, because that’s also the style of today. We have a feeling that clients today are a little more understated, and we have the capacity to create beauty through a fine line, rather than an accumulation. So one of our high- jewellery pieces, which is sort of a V with a stone in suspension, doesn’t shout about its design. It’s all about balance.

This year is the 10th anniversary of the Joséphine collection...

But we don’t mark it that way for two reasons. I always feel that if you start doing anniversaries for everything, then at the end, what’s the meaning in it? Last year, when we did the 240 years of Chaumet, that was slightly different. For Chaumet, our heritage is much longer than a decade, it’s about centuries. Instead, this year, we’re celebrating our connection with the 200th anniversary of the death of Napoleon, which is significant in Europe and in France. We’ve done an exhibition at 12 Place Vendôme that was open to the public which tells the love story of Napoleon and Josephine through 150 different objects, beautiful loans from museums and private owners.

Which piece proved to be the most challenging piece in the collection?

The most discussed and the most debated one was the watch. Because we’re clearly a jeweller, and we’ve focused all our efforts and attention on jewellery. But since a few years ago, we’ve reassessed and repositioned what watches mean for Chaumet. It’s true that with the business of watches within Chaumet, we’ve really tried to be coherent with what the story of watchmaking for Chaumet is as a jeweller. One of our challenges was to look at the market – in the market, 90 percent of watches are round – and nobody’s waiting for Chaumet to create a round watch, because we already have thousands of beautiful options on the market.

We decided on a shaped watch, and it wasn’t very difficult to settle on the pear shape, like an illusion of a diamond. We also faceted the watch’s dial.

How do you balance 240 years of heritage behind a brand and stay relevant at the same time?

That’s really the obsession every single day. How do we continue the narrative, the link to the story? Since the pandemic, we’ve seen clients choose Chaumet because there’s longevity. And so it becomes a daily obsession of ours to convey this message to our clients through different means, including the digital approach, so we can speak to the needs of our audience today. We also go through the traditional channels and have books and exhibitions. I regularly write down on paper in two columns: on one side, how much do we tell the story of Chaumet, and on the other, how do we take a contemporary approach, either through the narrative or through using different tools? I take a step back and ask myself is there a balance? If we’re going too much in one direction, maybe it’s time to rebalance. It’s in everything we do.

The post View from the Top: The Best 2021 High Jewellery Selection appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

With seven decades of expertise in high jewellery, there’s no doubting King Fook when it comes to sourcing the most desirable jewellers to introduce to Hong Kong. Feiping Chang, a jewellery connoisseur herself, takes on a few exclusive collections to show us how it’s done.

Chang has always been a woman of style, poise and good taste, with a penchant for jewellery that's cause for envy worldwide. King Fook, established in 1949, has long understood the tastes of Hong Kong and our hunger for quality and fine craftsmanship. It was only pertinent then, that we sought to photograph Chang, a socialite and a local legend in her own right, adorned in jewellery that matched her sophistication and spoke to her heart.

Since its early days, King Fook specialised in the trade of jade, silver and gold ingot pieces, an area they still claim unparalleled expertise to this day. As their business expanded, King Fook set about discovering and curating unique jewellers around Europe to bring their unique creations to Hong Kong, satisfying its customers' increasing desire for one-of-a-kind jewellery.

Hence, a dedicated brand called "masterpiece by king fook" was born, becoming the exclusive retail partner for several of Europe's most prestigious brands. Available exclusively at masterpiece by king fook, the European brands include Annamaria Cammilli, Mattia Cielo and Palmiero from Italy, and Stenzhorn from Germany.

To time with the opening of the latest masterpiece by king fook boutique store on Pedder Street this month, we set out to discover more about the four exclusive brands, as well as its own bespoke service, which offers discerning clients – such as Chang herself – unique tailor-made designs, gemstone combinations and motifs that suit their needs.

masterpiece by king fook’s Bespoke Jewellery Design Service

Bespoke jewellery is inherently special – there’s only one existing piece in the whole world, encapsulating in every detail and gemstone, an origin story that resonates with the owner of the creation. Having amassed over seven decades of professionalism and experience in high jewellery – from stringent gemstone selection to a passionate pursuit in excellence for gem-setting and craftsmanship – masterpiece by king fook was naturally a trusted partner for many in the city searching to create their own bespoke jewellery pieces.

For masterpiece by king fook, luxury is in the details. Clients will begin the process with the company’s band of experienced designers who will propose unique tailor-made designs, gemstones combinations, settings and engraving motifs based on their story, preference and needs. Any jewellery piece can be created: rings, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, even modular designs can be achieved to give the client unlimited possibilities to wear their jewellery in different styles.

The gemstones used in the pieces are of the utmost highest quality. the brand sets itself an exceedingly high far when it comes to the gemstones used in its products – the diamonds, coloured diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, jades and pearls are all sourced and directly hand-picked by its own jewellers to ensure that the gemstones are on par with the company’s own standards. Diamonds, for example, have to be at least VS to VVS in clarity and G in colour.

At the request of the client, masterpiece by king fook will also look for gemstones of a particular grade, source, shape and colour – if it is a pigeon blood ruby from Burma that you’re looking for, the company will do their utmost to find the suitable stone. On our cover, Chang wears an all-diamond ensemble from the masterpiece by king fook Diamond Collection. The spectacular necklace is beautifully set with layers of brilliant-cut diamonds for a three-dimensional effect, using over 442 diamonds totalling 57.09 carats. The earrings feature 48 diamonds totalling 7.31 carats while the ring features 19 diamonds totalling 4.03 carats.

Stenzhorn

In his youth, Klaus Stenzhorn was an avid traveller and animal lover – it was on one of his many adventures that he found himself visiting an emerald mine in Colombia, thus throwing him into the fascinating world of jewellery and propelling him to found the Stenzhorn House of Jewellery in 1979. Stenzhorn was utterly smitten with the art of invisible setting, which became an important signature in many of the brand’s quintessential creations.

The art of invisible setting is mastered by very few jewellery houses today and ensures that the metal setting is completely hidden so the pave-set gemstones can shine unencumbered. Today, the Stenzhorn brand is still family-owned, and the vision of Klaus Stenzhorn still stands firm: to make the world’s finest jewellery that stands on part with the world’s finest works of art.

Mattia Cielo

Jewellery making is in Mattia Cielo's blood – he grew up in Italy playing with diamonds that his father left on the kitchen table after work. His jewellery creations today have won him numerous international awards and there's no doubt why: Cielo has a way of with jewellery that allows them to be at once pure and simple, and yet non-conforming and technically complex.

His most signature piece is a flexible spiral bracelet – the Rugiada Diamanti – a design that can be easily twisted and manipulated to be worn as a bangle around the wrist, or extended to become an accessory that adorns the entire arm. Mattia Cielo's creations have always been admired for its simplistic styles – the circle is a constant motif that appears in all his works – and yet, the engineering process and the innovative use of materials render his designs some of the most futuristic jewellery pieces we've seen.

Palmiero

Valenza, a small town of Piedmont in the northern part of Italy, has traditionally been famous for its goldsmith tradition, while Carlo Palmiero himself has always been intrigued with gemstones and the way these stones can be used to bring different depths of colours to his pieces. At his atelier-laboratory, founded in 1979, Palmiero has adamantly shied away from trends and a traditional way of designing jewellery around an important centre stone, instead, turning his attention to the object as a whole. His jewellery creations are like sculptures, with details even on the underside of a brooch or on the ring shank, allowing the entire creation to become the protagonist.

Annamaria Cammilli

There's something truly artistic and sculptural about Annamaria Cammilli's jewellery creations, which doesn't come as much of a surprise considering the Florentine jeweller's background as a sculptor and painter. Her jewellery creations are known for its meticulous designs, inspired by organic shapes found in nature, as well as the brand's signature shades of gold, a remarkable palette of 18K gold colours that range from natural beige, ice white, black lava, lemon bamboo yellow, orange apricot, champagne pink, yellow sunrise, to this year's newest addition – a rich shade of chocolate brown. There's no other jeweller quite like Annamaria Cammilli in the world who has mastered the technique of creating different shades of gold in a consistent manner, allowing her to colour her gold jewellery pieces with the same flourish a painter would with a brush and ink.

(HERO IMAGE: RINGS, NECKLACE AND EARRINGS IN GOLD WITH DIAMONDS PALMIERO AVAILABLE AT MASTERPIECE BY KING FOOK, DRESS KALITA AVAILABLE AT LANE CRAWFORD)

Feiping Chang Adore Cover Story

PHOTOGRAPHY KAUZRAMBLER
STYLING GENNADY ORESHKIN
HAIR AND MAKEUP REGHAN WONG
ASSISTANTS KOKO POON AND LEONA CHAN
FLOWERS MOHLIA

The post Jewellery Connoisseur Feiping Chang Walks Us Through “masterpiece by king fook” appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

This month, we've turned our focus on the amazing high jewellery pieces that have been born from some of our favourite fashion houses. As their collections show, if you draw on the right motifs, some fashion trends can last forever.

Chanel

In a touch of sheer genius, Chanel has magnificently turned its Chanel No. 5 perfume into an entire high-jewellery collection. From the bottle and stopper, to the flowers, the village and even the number 5 itself, the Collection N°5 is a dream for any Chanel lover. The Eternal N°5 earrings come in white gold and diamonds. On one side is an emerald-cut diamond, while the other earring showcases the number 5 with a brilliant-cut diamond nestled within the curve of the numeral.

Hermès

A line, a volume or a form is at the heart of each unique piece from Hermès’ Lignes Sensibles collection by Pierre Hardy — an embellishment that drapes across the body to accentuate its structure and movement. The Hermès Réseau lumière is a sautoir necklace with streams of sapphires in graduated shades, gliding over the skin like dewdrops under the sunlight.

Louis Vuitton

The Bravery high-jewellery collection is designed by Francesca Amfitheatrof who found inspiration in Louis Vuitton’s roots. “I was so surprised that a fashion house like Louis Vuitton was created through the sheer courage of one young man,” says the jewellery designer. A highlight is this three-layered necklace with three exceptional sugarloaf cabochons: a 19.70-carat Sri Lankan sapphire, an 8.64-carat Colombian emerald and a 7.11-carat Madagascan sapphire.

Dior

The new Dior high-jewellery collection celebrates the rebirth of Dior’s historic home, Hôtel Particulier at 30 Avenue Montaigne, with the reimagination of the figurative rose in all their forms — romantic, stained-glass, futuristic and abstract couture. This secret watch showcases the romantic side of the rose with diamonds and purple garnets crowned with a pink sapphire.

The post 4 Jewellery Houses that Draw on Their Fashionable Roots appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

The oldest jeweller on the Place Vendôme in Paris is also the most forward-thinking. We talk to Boucheron's Claire Choisne about her latest high-jewellery collection and how she's making history by turning jewels holographic.

Frédéric Boucheron, who founded his maison in 1858, set up shop on Place Vendôme in Paris 35 years later, the first jeweller to do so. Old the name may be, but its collections are anything but traditional. Under the hand of creative director Claire Choisne, Boucheron has consistently revealed jewellery collections that stun with their avant-garde aesthetics, unusual sources of inspiration and mind-boggling techniques. Some of her best works could be seen in Boucheron’s Carte Blanche high jewellery collections, such as the Fleurs Éternelles rings in 2018, which immortalise real flower petals in gorgeous rings that will never lose their vibrance, shape or colour, and last year’s Contemplation collection, inspired by the sky, for which the house used NASA technology to capture stardust into rock-crystal shells, then set them with diamonds in a completely otherworldly necklace. Needless to say, I’ve admired Choisne’s creations for a long time.

This year, Choisne yet again exercises her creativity and technical prowess, this time with the Holographique collection. She’s long studied the relationship between light and colour, and the collection is her thesis. “I wanted to bring a new meaning to light,” she says. “To capture its very essence, which is colour. Every piece is like a prism, catching the complexity of light by representing every single colour held within it.”

Choisne studies Boucheron’s archives often, and colour has always been an important pillar to the house. “But I didn’t want to do something that I already see a lot of,” she says. “Normally, a colour collection was about one stone and how that stone gives you one colour. And then you play with different stones to form a palette. But I didn’t want to do that at Boucheron. For me, you see, I wanted to propose something new. And to work on distinguishing between light and colour and playing with holographic effects. That’s what I think colour means for Boucheron.”

Frédéric Boucheron would have approved of this collection, I tell Choisne, but she laughs and says she can’t know for sure. But her admiration for the founder is evident. “When I first arrived at the maison and discovered the collection of Frédéric Boucheron himself, I understood immediately that he was a visionary. He was quite free to create and invent new techniques. He was bold enough to cut rubies in the style of diamonds, which at that time was not a common thing to do,” she says.

Frédéric Boucheron also created the first question-mark necklace, which is now an emblematic design for the house. “It was a surprise for me to learn that it was Boucheron himself who invented this technique,” says Choisne. “I’m a jeweller too and I make jewellery, but when I looked at those question-mark necklaces, I said, ‘Wow.’ It looked really simple and pure in design, but it was so technically creative.”

Embodying the spirit of her predecessors, Choisne also chooses to be completely bold and innovative in her approach to jewellery. She says all her collections start out as dreams and of free brainstorming without limits. Then, she looks externally to express her vision. “I’ll ask people from different sectors other than jewellery what tools existed that could help me achieve those dreams,” she says. “I try to be as open-minded as possible and I’m not afraid to ask for help or advice from others to find a technique or a way to work with non-traditional jewellery materials.”

Choisne was inspired by artist Olafur Eliasson and architect Luis Berragan for the Holographique collection. She visited an exhibition in London when she began working on the collection in 2019 and found many parallels in Eliasson’s works, which she delighted in. As for Berragan, she had the chance to visit a house he designed in Mexico where she met someone who’d worked with the late architect and explained to her his creative processes, and the way he handled the link between light and colour.

Wanting to create the effects of a prism on jewels, Choisne sought to find a way to make holographic jewellery, something that’s never existed in the world of jewellery. When she shared her ideas with her team, they responded with a mix of fright and joy. Says Choisne: “They know they have a big challenge, but at the same time it’s quite fun to do something new. It’s a mixed feeling of stress and excitement, but we’re very much together in on it.”

To make it happen, Boucheron’s team discovered Saint-Gobain, a French company that made mirrors in the past but now produces high-performance materials for a variety of applications. Saint-Gobain had the capability to create a holographic effect but had never tried it on jewels.

It was a challenge, but the team succeeded – from discovering three rare opals, a 10.38-carat pear-cut and rose-coloured opal and a 30.98-carat blue-green cabochon opal from Australia and a 50.95-carat pearly white opal from Ethiopia, which became the central stones of the Illusion rings, to slicing rock crystal to a thickness of less than 2mm and applying a holographic effect to them.

“It’s poetic and futuristic at the same time,” says Choisne says of the Holographique necklace, deeming it a personal highlight in the collection. “I love the fact that craftsmen successfully hid the moving parts of the necklace, even though all of the necklace was transparent with the rock-crystal blades, making it really flexible.”

Continuing with the epic of Fleurs Éternelles, the Chromatique sees each petal of peony and pansy moulded in white ceramic, which Boucheron’s craftsmen had to shape by hand. The material is then adorned with holographic coating and turned into a pair of rings and a brooch, taking the treasured floral theme to new realms.

It’s not only Choisne’s methods and imagination that are forward-thinking at Boucheron, but its new campaigns break with tradition by capturing the zeitgeist of contemporary culture. High jewellery is not confined to the necks and arms of women; men can wear jewellery too – and wear it well. “In the last Contemplation collection, we started putting jewellery on men,” says Choisne when we touch on the topic.

“For me, I didn’t care whether it was men or women. What’s important for me is the aesthetic effect. I really thought some pieces worked differently when they were worn by a man or a woman. In this collection, for example, when you saw the brooches on men, it became so much more interesting. So for each piece, I’d ask myself, ‘What’s the best aesthetic result?’ That’s how we decided to put several pieces on men.”

The post Boucheron’s Carte Blanche Holographique High Jewellery Collection is Light Years Ahead appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Messika first sprang on to the scene with its fine-jewellery collection Move. Its founder, Valerie Messika, tells us how dance and fashion inspired her latest high-jewellery collection, Magnetic Attraction.

The wearing of diamond jewellery might seem common nowadays – diamond tennis bracelets, delicate diamond pendant necklaces and diamond stud earrings have become everyday staples – but Valerie Messika recalls a vastly different time.

“When I founded Messika 16 years ago, there was a real fear and apprehension around diamonds. Most women only really wore the diamond for their engagement ring or very traditional eveningwear,” she tells me. “A lot of women also thought of it as a stone to wear when they were “older” – they had this notion that it aged them.”

Even as a child, Messika was surrounded by diamonds. Her father, André, was a jeweller who set up his own business at the age of just 22 and quickly became one of the most prominent and well-respected diamond dealers in the industry.

“My whole childhood was filled with memories of my father and his passion for diamonds,” says Messika, who bonded with him over their shared love for the stones. “When I was a little girl, I remember he’d bring back incredible diamonds and he used to let me play with them. My first real crush for diamonds was at the age
of 12 when I found an envelope with tiny diamonds at my father’s place. I was fascinated by the light they exhaled.” She also vividly recalls her father coming home with a pocketful of different shapes and types of diamonds, and playing around with them.

These strong visuals accompanied her until the day she decided to create her own namesake jewellery brand. Small clusters of diamonds forming delicate designs became her signature, as did moving diamonds – the Move collection resulted from her desire to give freedom to the diamond, and is inspired by the memory of her father slipping diamonds between his fingers.

“My goal was and is to create a new way of wearing jewellery,” says Messika of her brand, which opened its first store in 2005. “I had this vision in which diamonds must be modern, innovative and easy to wear. Jewellery is an opportunity to express your personality. I liked the fact that there were no more rules: it’s really about embracing your own personal style and making jewellery yours. That’s the spirit I wanted to inject into my collections.”

Her latest launch is the Magnetic Attraction collection, high-jewellery creations that, yet again, pay the highest tribute to the diamond and embody the brand’s central element – movement – through the theme of dance. “I always start the creative process with the stone,” says Messika. “The lightness and movement, despite
the strength of the pieces, is the most fascinating aspect of the jewellery.”

For the coloured-diamond collection, she designed 16 spectacular pieces, ranging from double-finger rings, hand bracelets, triple-finger rings, ear cuffs and ankle bracelets. Her favourite piece is the Pear Appeal Toi & Moi yellow diamond ring, “for its strength and relaxed aspects, despite the fact there are two stones of 7 carats each”. The ring design places the two pear-shaped fancy yellow diamonds in opposing directions, like two opposing poles of a magnet, almost touching but separated by a band of emerald-cut white diamonds. Messika’s approach to her jewellery is to stun and yet be effortless at the same time, fashionable and still timeless for the years to come.

Fashion is another aspect that’s always been close to her heart – she’s worked closely with strong women in the industry, whom she believes embody Messika’s key codes. Joan Smalls and Sylvia Hoeks are both faces for the brand, while Gigi Hadid and Kate Moss have worked closely with Messika in designing collections.

“Kate has always been an inspiration and a muse for me,” she says, revealing that designing her first high-jewellery collection with Moss was a spontaneous decision. “I met her last year at the Ritz … and she was wearing a lot of jewellery. I was curious to know the various stories behind her jewels and that’s when I discovered that she was obsessed with jewellery, particularly high-jewellery pieces. I took the chance to ask her if she’d like to co-design a high-jewellery collection with me. Kate said yes straight away.”

So successful was the partnership that Messika teases there’ll be more to come. “It was an exciting challenge to entwine Kate’s personal tastes with the key codes of Messika,” she says. “Please stay tuned for Kate Moss Opus 2 collection!”

This story first appeared in the August 2021 print issue of Prestige Hong Kong.

The post Valerie Messika: How Dance Inspired Her Latest High Jewellery Collection appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Delving into the brand’s archives for fresh inspiration, Boucheron’s Creative Director Claire Choisne presents a high jewellery Art Deco collection made for the women, and men, of today.

The post Boucheron’s high jewellery Art Deco collection is not just for women appeared first on The Peak Magazine.

Delving into the brand’s archives for fresh inspiration, Boucheron’s Creative Director Claire Choisne presents a high jewellery Art Deco collection made for the women, and men, of today.

For more stories like this, visit www.thepeakmagazine.com.sg.

This is probably a world first. In celebration of the 100th year of the N°5 perfume, also possibly known as the most famous perfume in the world, Patrice Leguéreau, director of the Chanel Fine Jewellery Creation Studio, has created a high jewellery necklace inspired by the design of the iconic perfume bottle, showcasing a 55.55-carat custom-cut diamond.

The fragrance, composed in 1921 by Ernest Beaux and Gabrielle Chanel as the first "perfume for women with the scent of a woman" — is ubiquitous to all, and has been a mainstay in many of our bathroom shelves. Chanel's high jewellery began in 1932, when Mademoiselle Chanel created her one and only high jewellery collection called "Bijoux de Diamants".

This 2021, the launch of the Collection N°5 high jewellery celebrates these two treasured domains by the Maison. “Gabrielle Chanel approached these two universes with the same visionary values, focusing on audacity and the quest for excellence. I wanted to rediscover that creative gesture with this collection, which has been conceived like a journey through the meanderings of the N°5 perfume’s soul, from the architecture of the bottle to the olfactive explosion of the fragrance," says Leguéreau.

The zenith of the high jewellery collection is the extraordinary 55.55 necklace, named after the exceptional 55.55-carat diamond that is crafted as the ultimate tribute to the classic perfume.

While most jewellers will cut into a diamond rough with the goal of obtaining the biggest stone possible without compromising on clarity, Chanel's team took an unprecedented approach, setting themselves the mission to cut a perfectly proportioned diamond that weighed an exact 55.55 carats.

The result is a beautiful emerald cut diamond, 55.55-carats exactly, in D Flawless quality, set in 18-carat white gold and surrounded by 104 round diamonds and 42 baguette diamonds. In a display of creativity and style, the necklace comes with a diamond-set topper, and the silhouette of the bottle is shaped out of pear-shape and marquise-shaped diamonds cut in different sizes. No detail is overlooked, even the fastener is shaped like the lucky number 5.

This unique necklace, however, is not meant for sale, with Chanel deciding to keep the necklace 55.55 in its archives.

The post Chanel Celebrates 100 Years of the N°5 Perfume with a 55.55-Carat Diamond Necklace appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Thirty years after Fred’s ruby and diamond necklace shot to fame on the neck of the beguiling Julia Roberts in the movie Pretty Woman, the jewellery piece has inspired a fully-fledged collection that embodies freedom, audacity, and young love. We speak to Valérie Samuel, artistic director at Fred, about the making of a new classic collection.

Of the many memorable moments in the 1990s movie Pretty Woman, one of the most successful romantic comedies ever to have graced the silver screen, one scene, in particular, has left a stronger impression than the rest. When Julia Roberts’ character Vivian Ward steps out in a floor-length crimson red gown and Richard Gere’s Edward Lewis presents her with a ruby and diamond necklace, it’s perhaps the moment when the world was introduced to Roberts’ vivacious, wholesome laughter for the first time. A child-like wonder and glee permeate her character as, wonderstruck, she reaches out for the necklace, Gere playfully snaps the box shut over her fingers and she bursts heartily into laughter.

A turning point in the movie plot, the scene is also pivotal as it also propelled not only Roberts to fame, but also the name of the jeweller who lent the necklace to the Pretty Woman production team: Fred.

The brand’s founder, Fred Samuel, had been a jeweller since 1936, but it wasn’t until 1966 that the name was established by Fred Samuel’s eldest son. With shops already in Paris and Monaco, Fred’s first US boutique in the United States opened 1977 in Los Angeles on Rodeo Drive in 1977, right in the heart of Beverly Hills and well within the reach of Hollywood celebrities, forging intimate bonds with many within the cinema industry.

It wasn’t, therefore, too unusual for Fred to received a visit from a movie production team seeking to borrow a piece of jewellery for a leading actress, but it soon surprised everyone how significant that piece of jewellery had became.

“We had no idea that the necklace of ruby and diamond hearts they chose would become a special part of the movie,” recalls Valérie Samuel, the granddaughter of Fred Samuel and the brand’s current artistic director, “but it’s unquestionably one of our house’s fondest memories.”

Inevitably, the necklace came to be named Pretty Woman, and it’s served as a major source of inspiration for the brand, reinterpreted many times over the years. But it wasn’t until two years ago that Samuel and her team considered designing a full collection as a tribute.

Making of the Pretty Woman high jewellery collection

To Samuel, the rubellite was an obvious choice for the important high-jewellery and jewellery collection, though it posed many challenges. “It brought many constraints,” says Samuel. “We had to find uncut stones that met all the Fred quality criteria, and we also had to find enough of them in the same intense pink-red hue that I picked, so as to provide jewellery for mixing and matching.

“The toughest constraint was that there were only three mines in the world producing rubellite. So, it took us more than two years to source and bring together the finest and purest of these stones.”

But perseverance paid off. The Pretty Woman collection is defined by the uniquely reddish-pink rubellite stones from the tourmaline family, which shift from magenta pink to purplish-red in the light.

The design is also distinctive. In the hollow of each open-worked diamond heart is a second heart-shaped rubellite, elegantly positioned slightly off-centre in an alternating fashion, evoking an unencumbered attitude and radiating youthful energy.

“Even though the collection is inspired by the necklace in the movie,” Samuel explains, “my vision was to capture a distinctive aesthetic – the heart within a heart – as well as by a mindset with Fred’s typical joie de vivre and sense of freedom.”

Samuel’s favourite piece from the collection is the Audacious necklace. The string of brilliant- and fancy-cut diamonds, to which eight rubellite and diamond hearts are attached, is six jewellery pieces in one. The transformative nature of the high-jewellery piece embodies her entire philosophy for the Pretty Woman collection. “It’s several jewellery pieces in one, with multiple ways of being worn and is a feat as technically advanced as it’s mischievously non-conformist,” she says.

“Six of them can be detached, one by one, to create as many different pieces and wearing options: earrings, a brooch, pin and chain necklace. Transformed in this way, the necklace, comprising 554 diamonds totalling 20 carats, and eight rubellites totalling 14 carats, forms a sophisticated and brilliant choker for daily wear.”

Since re-joining the company in 2017, Samuel has designed with the free spirit in mind. Her designs within Fred’s signature collections – which include Force 10, Chance Infinie, Pain de Sucre and Success – have opened up the brand to new silhouettes, styles and declinations, while always respecting Fred’s DNA. “I felt as if I were opening new territories of the brand’s expressions,” she says. “Jewellery to be worn every day, by the free spirit, thanks to the versatility in the pieces for mixing and matching.”

Everyday fine jewellery pieces

The Pretty Woman collection thus comprises not only important high-jewellery pieces, but also fine jewellery for everyday wear.

“I wanted to give this major new collection for Fred an energy that’s joyful, stylish and relaxed at the same time. And to allow women the scope to make it all their own, to experiment with it, to dare wearing multiple pieces at once,” says Samuel.

In the fine jewellery line, the striking heart-within-a- heart design is expressed in pink or white gold, in smooth, semi-paved or sparkling in a show-coloured setting, from necklaces sized from mini to XL, chains, ear studs and earrings, rings and bracelets.

Last but not least, the collection needed a muse, and who better to embody the new collection than the niece of the leading lady who captured the hearts of millions in the original movie. “From the beginning, it was our conviction that only the actress Emma Roberts, niece of Julia, could be our Pretty Woman ambassador today,” says Samuel. “It was an obvious choice: she captures perfectly the way of love that the Maison Fred wanted to portray: unconditional, spontaneous, audacious.”

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