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Holiday sparkle

Heading full force into the last weeks of the holiday season, here are a few ideas for last-minute diamond jewelry gifts. To get a closer look, click on each image.

              

Bill Levine Collection (top)
“Crown Key” pendant with diamonds totaling  0.30 carat set in 14-karat gold; suggested retail price is $1,125. (800) 551-8386 or LevineJewels.com

Gabriel & Co. (left)
Hoop earrings with 1.82 carats total weight of diamonds set in 14-karat white gold; suggested retail price is $2,825. (800) 886-5422 or GabrielNY.com

Cartier (right)
“Cartier Collection les must” scarab-motif bracelet with diamond pave set in white gold; suggested retail price is $1,700. (800) 227-8437 or Cartier.com
Photo: Vincent Wulveryck, copyright Cartier 2009

       

Christian Tse (left)
“Life” necklace in 18-karat white gold with pave diamonds totaling 0.45 carat; suggested retail price is $3,200. (888) 688-1988 or ChristianTse.com

Gumuchian (center)
“Fleur” earrings with 1.18 carats total weight of diamonds set in platinum; suggested retail price is $6,500. Gumuchian.com

A. Jaffe (right)
Marquise-cut diamond ring available in platinum with 5-carat center stone and side stones totaling 0.50 carat; price available upon request. AJaffe.com

                  

Rina Limor (top left)
Earrings with rose-cut diamonds set in black rhodium 14-karat gold; suggested retail price is $1,800. RinaLimor.com

Leslie Greene (top right)
“Greenwich” patina cuff in sterling silver with diamonds; suggested retail price is $1,495. LeslieGreene.com

Sethi Couture (above)
“Crown” ring with diamonds totaling 0.51 carat (left), and “Tiara” ring with diamonds totaling 0.44 carat, both set in black rhodium white gold; suggested retail prices are $2,000 and $1,800, respectively. (415) 255-4768 or SethiCouture.com

The kaleidoscope of Spectrum

Entries in the AGTA Spectrum Awards were especially diverse this year, with numerous examples of Windex-blue Paraiba tourmalines (one of my all-time favorite stones), baroque pearls, sapphires in every hue (of course) and even color-change garnets.

We’ve named the Spectrum winners in this story, but here I am featuring some personal favorites spotted at the press preview of the awards, held last week in New York City. The preview was held in a beautiful penthouse in Greenwich Village, where sunlight helped play up the colors of the gemstones. These were all photographed by Thomas Rosinski, National Jeweler's art director.

Above is a pair of jade earrings, entered in the Evening Wear category, by Liora Berdugo of Oshawa Jewellery, rendered in 18-karat white gold and featuring jade accented with 2.85 carats of diamonds and onyx. So delicate and vibrant!

Jorge Adeler of Adeler Jewelers submitted this 30.5-millimeter freshwater baroque pearl ring, above, in 14-karat yellow gold and accented with white diamonds totaling 0.34 carats in the Business/Day Wear category. I like the way the diamond pavé is used only halfway around the pearl, adding to the "imperfect" look that makes baroques so popular. What a great power ring to wear to work!

The "Orbit" ring, below, by James Currens of J.W. Currens in New York, is aptly named, with colors that are really out of this world. It features a 5.37-carat pink spinel, 15.83 carats of spessartite garnets and 1.16 carats of diamonds and was the winner in the Platinum Honors category for Business/Day Wear. The pink and orange combination is unusual and striking.

This 18-karat white gold and black-rhodium ring, right, entered in the Evening Wear category is by David Hakimian of Parviz Designs, and features a 9.65-carat aquamarine accented with 0.99 carats of pavé diamonds.

It is an example of how the darkened metal look can work extremely well with colored stones. 

 

How festive are these18-karat white gold drop earrings, left, entered in the Evening Wear category by Samuel Getz of Samuel Getz Designs? These feature 24.82 carats of antique square cushion-shaped rhodolite garnets, 91.25 carats of cushion-shaped red spinels, a pair of 13-millimeter black Tahitian pearls and 2.04 carats round-brilliant diamonds.

Another Business/Day Wear category entry that drew my eye is Frederick Sage’s pink and green gold “Enigma” pendant, below, featuring a 161.81-carat natural quartz with various crystal and mineral formations. The quartz is accented with brown and white diamonds and hangs on a hand-made chain. It's difficult to tell from the photograph, but the quartz has a really great 3D effect, and the earth tones make it a great  piece for accessorizing.

 

 

Bonjour, joaillerie!

If you're looking for an early dose of holiday cheer, there's no other place like New York, where twinkling lights and tinsel start going up the day after the pumpkins are put away.

For city dwellers and visitors out and about doing some holiday shopping the week before Thanksgiving, a jewelry exhibition taking place at Aaron Faber Gallery will be worth coming in from the cold.

In conjunction with UBIFRANCE and the French Trade Commission, the gallery will host the Jewels of France Exhibition and Trunk Show featuring the creations of 13 French jewelry houses.

If you have some time to stop in during the exhibition's Nov. 16-20 run, check out some of the pieces you'll find:

Left: Ximena Alarcon Cavrois "Eliptica" ring with Tahitian pearl and diamonds set in 18-karat yellow gold.
Center: Antoine Camus "Hippopotamus" ring in silver and 18-karat yellow gold.
Right: Marchak "Octopus" crafted from a baroque pearl, sapphire, aquamarine and diamond on white gold.

Ivanka Trump's wedding jewelry

Ivanka Trump, the real estate scion, sometime model and owner of Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry, tied the knot last night with New York Observer owner Jared Kushner, and while I don't envy her three-month whirlwind engagement--I can't imagine all the planning in such a short time--I'm definitely jealous of what the process to select her wedding jewelry must have been like.

Can you imagine? I'd love to walk into my own store or thumb through my design archives and pick out the pieces for my dream day. Here's what Ivanka selected:

Platinum and mixed-cut diamond cluster earrings with 9.67 carats total weight of diamonds ($130,000).

Custom-designed, platinum and mixed-cut diamond hair piece with 6.38 carats total weight of diamonds ($45,000).

Art deco platinum fancy-link estate bracelet with 26 carats total weight of diamonds ($90,000).

Photos: All Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry

Getting up close with the Annenberg

For me, Friday mornings are usually pretty cheery. It's the end of the week, only one more day of work to go and the weekend is right there, just looming on the horizon.

Last Friday was especially so despite the dreary weather, as I trekked up to Christie's in New York City and spent a very informative morning getting an up-close look at a number of pieces that will be on the auction block this Wednesday.

First and obviously foremost was the Annenberg Diamond. The 32.01-carat D-flawless diamond was set into a ring by designer David Webb and purchased by well-known philanthropist and art collector Leonore "Lee" Annenberg in 2007.

Annenberg, who died in March at the age of 91, bought the ring as a present to herself on her 90th birthday.That's a self-purchase that would make Ken Gassman proud.

My visit to Christie's on Friday brought to mind this article I read in The New York Times early last week, telling us that luxury is gravitating east. I don't disagree with that notion—the growing importance of Chinese consumers to the diamond industry has been a story for a long time. 

But thinking of this article prompted me to ask why Christie's didn't make the Annenberg part of its December auction in Hong Kong, where a 5-carat pink diamond called the "Vivid Pink" will be up for sale.

A Christie's spokesperson said that they always place jewelry at the auctions where they feel it will do best. For a diamond with a name like Annenberg, that means putting it up for sale in New York.

Lee Annenberg was the wife of Ambassador and publisher Walter H. Annenberg, whose empire included The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Philadelphia Daily News, Seventeen magazine, TV Guide and radio and TV stations.  Lee Annenberg also served as President Ronald Reagan's first chief of protocol back in the 1980s, admitting at that time that the $50,000-a-year gig was her first real job.

Together, she and her husband gave away billions to cultural, educational and medical institutions throughout their lives.

Though it's not known what Lee Annenberg paid for her 32-carat diamond when she purchased it in 2007, it's expected to fetch between $3 million and $5 million on Wednesday. 

If you saw the ring in person, you'd see why. It is an amazing stone.

When I finally recovered my eyesight after being blinded by the Annenberg, another piece that caught my eye at Christie's was an Art Deco diamond and multi-gem "wave" bracelet by Rubel Freres (right).

Channeling our fashion editor Cate here, I couldn't help but think how great the multi-colored piece would look with just a plain little black dress.

It's expected to fetch between $500,000 and $700,000, making it much affordable than the Annenberg.

An eventful couple of weeks

Deadlines, a brief trip to Boston and events have been keeping me away from this blog of late, but I’m not complaining. Better to be busy these days then to find yourself with nothing to do.

In any case, here are a couple of highlights from the past few weeks:

—Last week, I made my first-ever trip to the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) here in Manhattan for the premiere of a documentary on Swiss goldsmith and jewelry designer Lucie Heskett-Brem, who is known as “the gold weaver” for the unique way she has with the metal.

The World Gold Council and New York’s jewelry-focused art gallery Aaron Faber organized this exclusive screening, marking the addition of one of Heskett-Brem’s signature spider-web designs to the museum’s collection.

The 40-minute film, simply called The Gold Weaver—Lucie Heskett-Brem, gave viewers insight into the artist’s personal and professional life.

When Heskett-Brem first started out, she really didn’t know exactly what she wanted to do with her life, a dilemma that I’m sure sounds familiar to many. The film shows that before she found her calling, she tried a veritable cornucopia of careers, including working as a typist at a newspaper where she took dictation over the phone from the international correspondent and attempted to bang out his stories on deadline.

Newspaper work wasn’t a fit for Heskett-Brem and neither were the next few jobs she tried.

She finally found her calling—jewelry design—at an evening workshop.

London jeweler Bentley and Skinner was the first to pick up her pieces, and Heskett-Brem’s career took off from there.

The movie gives an amazing glimpse into the life of a truly talented and unique individual who comes from an equally amazing family of artists.

You can view The Gold Weaver in its entirety and learn more about Heskett-Brem here.

—On Wednesday, I headed downtown to Greenwich Jewelers to finally meet face-to-face with a family of New York retailers with whom I’ve had an over-the-phone relationship for two years.

What I found out there (among other things, some of which will be included in an online article I’m working on) is that just this month, founders Carl and Milly Gandia officially handed the business over to their daughters Jennifer Gandia and Christina Gandia Gambale, who have been working alongside their parents for years.

Their influence is evident all over the store.

Greenwich Jewelers’ display cases are filled with great-looking, fashion-forward jewelry—pieces by Melissa Joy Manning (her bracelet is pictured to the left) and Jamie Joseph were among my favorites (Hi, Rob)—in price points that are applicable to these times. 

I could easily see my friends and I spending a Saturday afternoon in Greenwich Jewelers picking out a few baubles,and having a great time doing it.

Now, how many jewelry stores do you think have women in their 20s and 30s saying that?

In addition to viewing The Gold Weaver and carving time out of my schedule to head downtown to Greenwich Jewelers, I’ve also been bombarded with event invitations as of late, as I mentioned earlier. 

There were two last week, three this week and I’m sure there are a few more late-October invites floating around in my in-box that I haven’t even had the chance to put on the calendar.

I can’t go to all of them, nor are all of them blog-worthy, but I choose to look at events as a positive sign the economy is picking up or, at the very least, that people are more optimistic than they have been in a long time.

500K wedding gown for sale

Last year, when I was running around looking at wedding dresses, I started to get sticker shock pretty early on.

So when I heard about the runway debut of a 500K gown, I was more than a little surprised, especially given the current trend of inconspicuous consumption. The figure is a hard one to fathom. I’m thinking that’ll buy a single-family house or cover four years of college tuition for more than a few kids.

But anyways, a six-digit price tag on a wedding gown does indeed exist. Last month, Platinum Guild International USA announced the debut of the “Platinum Wedding Gown,” a collaboration between wedding planner David Tutera and jewelry designer Erica Courtney.

The one-of-a-kind gown is valued at $501,640, and it’s not just a showpiece, as I was imagining a six-figure gown must be. It’s available for sale at New York City retailer Michael C. Fina.

So what is it that six figures buys?

The gown is ornamented with 10 feet of platinum chain, 33 carats of diamonds, 158.84 carats of aquamarine, plus white keshi pearls and a white South Sea pearl pendant suspended from platinum.

The dress also features a platinum-colored tulle veil and bouquet to match, and is accentuated with a sweetheart neckline and cascading white roses down the front.

Though the bride might only get to wear the dress for a single day, perhaps the consolation lies in the jewelry. Post-wedding, she’ll have a whole lot of it to hold onto and wear again and again.

A look into Verdura's archives

I have yet to check out the new film Coco Before Chanel, but when I do, I'll definitely be keeping a close eye on the jewelry. The iconic fashion designer helped to launch Verdura founder Fulco Verdura's career, hiring him on as her head designer, charged with creating both her private and boutique jewelry collections.

After visiting Verdura's New York showroom last week and seeing the original cuff bracelets (above left) that Fulco created for Coco Chanel (seen together at center), I'll be watching to see if the gorgeous cuffs make an appearance. Meanwhile, I was lucky to check out the re-created cuffs (above right) that the brand has crafted in honor of its 70th anniversary. Stunningly similar to the originals, the cuffs are being released in a limited edition of 70 pieces, or 35 pairs.

         

As though that wasn't enough to make my day, one of the coolest things about visiting Verdura was seeing the original jewelry drawings from the company archives. The archives feature thousands of drawings compiled over the years by Fulco Verdura and his staff. Drawings such as these (above left), seen at the company's New York showroom, have allowed Verdura to create pieces such as the ones at right.

Verdura does a great job of infusing visitors' modern-day experience of the brand with glimpses of its past. Visitors to the New York showroom (above left) will find the brand's jewelry juxtaposed with images of some of the legendary women who have worn its jewelry, such as Babe Paley (above right).

Verdura's "Herkimer earrings" at center are seen against a painting from the archives featuring disk-like shapes that inspired the design.

Q & A: Catching up with Cassy

A little while back, I received an e-mail about Cassy’s Sassy Jewelry, a company run by a young woman who had established her business at the age of 12. Since then, Arizona-based designer and owner Cassy Saba has been featured in a segment of The Montel Williams Show about “Teen Millionaires in the Making” and has been highlighted in magazines such as Elle and Teen.

Now on the verge of her 19th birthday, Saba juggles all the duties of running a jewelry business: designing, fulfilling orders and marketing, while also hitting the books as a college sophomore.

Saba’s designs and uber-professional Web site were what first caught my eye and, after checking in with Cassy, I can’t get over her entrepreneurial spirit.

Above: Cassy Saba with designer Stephen Webster. Below: A model wears designs from Cassy's Sassy Jewelry in the designer's lookbook, available online.

National Jeweler (NJ): How did you get started?
Cassy Saba (CS): It started as a hobby when I got my first bead kit, which was of plastic beads. I had my mom wear [one of my designs] to work one day and her clients really liked it. I started getting into glass beads and started approaching stores, doing trunk shows and developing a clientele.

NJ: What was it that made you decide to approach stores with your jewelry?
CS: I just kind of realized, go for it. It’s a little intimidating at first, but the worst they could say is no. They didn’t really consider my age, they were more impressed by my work. They would first put pieces on consignment and then just buy them. Lots of times, one customer would buy one piece and then come back for more.

NJ: Where are your designs sold?
CS: They’re mostly on the West Coast, mostly in local boutiques. I have one boutique in New York, and I have a rep trying to get me into [L.A.’s] Fred Segal.

NJ: How hard has it been to balance school and work?
CS: It’s been very difficult. I’m a sophomore at ASU [Arizona State University] and my major is marketing. I wish I could work all the time. I got a BlackBerry, so it’s a little easier now. I can do e-mails throughout the day and do orders.

NJ: Did you take any classes or have you taught yourself?
CS: I’ve pretty much taught myself, and now I’m doing semiprecious and metal. I try to keep up with the trends but still have my own work.

NJ: What are some of your favorite materials to work with?
CS: I really love mixing smooth stones with rough, bulkier stones. I like a lot of garnets, amethyst. I love pearls.

NJ: Who handles all the orders and behind the scenes?
CS: It’s solely me. I’ve marketed and networked myself. I have a MySpace page that I started and a Facebook page, and the company that designed my Web site found me through Facebook.

NJ: Your jewelry has been on a number of celebrities, Beyonce, Alicia Keys and Brandy, to name a few. How did they find out about you?
CS: Brandy purchased a necklace at a boutique in Scottsdale that sold my jewelry (her boyfriend had played for the Phoenix Suns at the time, so she went on some shopping sprees when visiting Arizona). And Beyonce is a fun story...her and her mom were in Women’s Wear Daily on the page before me in 2007 featuring their line, House of Dereon. After the release of that magazine, I sent them a letter with the article and our relationship went from there.

Next up for Saba? Phoenix Fashion Week, where she’ll be creating pieces to accessorize the gowns of a local bridal designer. Her latest collection features chunky statement necklaces that are right on trend. I'm looking forward to what this bright young thing will come up with next.

To check out more of Cassy's designs, visit her Web site, CassySassyJewelry.com.

Photos: Courtesy of Cassy’s Sassy Jewelry

Behind the scenes at Tacori

Early last week, I spent some time at Tacori's Los Angeles headquarters, where the brand was hosting a "Club Tacori" event for some of its best retailers (more on all the goings-on to come). 

I kicked off Monday morning in my rental car—driving between appointments in L.A. is quite a different beast than the usual New York subway trips—and soon after embarked upon a tour of the brand's expanded facilities.

Shortly before the Las Vegas shows this year, Tacori opened a new 5,000-square-foot wing. Now, with a total of 16,000 square feet, the brand has a showroom for celebrity visits (fans include The Bachelorette's Trista and Ryan, Jessica Alba and Brooke Shields, among others), new offices for all the customer service and quality control reps, and separate spaces for the diamond setters and goldsmiths hard at work.

Tacori truly made the event a family one, and I could see how exciting it was for the retailers and buyers to put names to faces and meet some of the people they've spent so much time with on the phone, not only the Tacorians themselves, but all the individuals who handle marketing and orders and make the company run on a day-to-day basis.

Check out some of these images for a few highlights. To see a larger view, just click on the photos:

“The Tacori Boutique”
A small boutique, like the branded ones some retailers have in their own stores, is where celebrities visiting the Tacori headquarters can check out jewelry privately.

The diamond room
It’s the place where the diamonds are matched and selected, from large stones to the tiniest of sparklers.

Goldsmith design studio
Craftsmen here bring all the details of the brand’s wedding bands and engagement rings to life. The studio includes a large room where all the metal work takes place, and there's also a connecting design library of archives, a CAD/CAM laboratory where the designs and plastic molds are created, and the central casting room, where all the baking and casting happens.

    

Diamond-setting studio
Craftsmen here set the tiniest of diamonds into Tacori’s pave bands and engagement rings, making for pieces like this partially completed ring seen above. Forensic goldsmiths work here as well, inspecting pieces in need of repairs, and polishers work on the final buffing at a special shine station. In addition, the space houses Tacori's "Quality Excellence" team, where each order is passed from hand to hand, reviewed and approved before being sent out. 

 '18K925'

From sketches to finished pieces, the “18K925” collection of silver and gold designs was years in the making. The collection is available only to Tacori’s "Passion Partner" retailers through the holidays, but will be opened up early next year for wider distribution.