Brazilian designer Silvia Furmanovich can now add jadeite to the mix of exotic materials that recur in her jewelry, a growing list that includes rare reclaimed woods, carved bamboo, woven horsehair, papyrus, Shibayama inlay, and more. Her latest collection, produced exclusively for Asprey, the 245-year-old British retailer of jewelry and other luxury goods, celebrates the natural beauty of jadeite, a stone prized by collectors and long associated with Asian arts and culture.
It is the designer’s first jewelry collection for Asprey, which has carried her decorative objects and giftware on an ongoing basis. The retailer provided the jadeite to Furmanovich; it has been steadily sourcing the material primarily through the secondary market (its acquisition of an impressive cache of jadeite slabs and vintage pieces made headlines in 2022).
Working closely with Asprey’s London-based jewelry artisans, “the dialogue between our perspectives felt completely natural,” says Furmanovich, whose design vocabulary represents a range of ancestral craftsmanship techniques that span cultures and artistic forms. “When craftsmanship is authentic and materials are extraordinary, they speak a universal language that transcends geography.”
While primarily celebrated for its vibrant green hue, the jadeite in Furmanovich’s collection also encompasses exceptionally rare shades of pink, lavender, red, white, and orange. “Jade possesses an extraordinary quietness. It has a softness, a depth, and an almost spiritual presence,” says the designer.
Pairing the jadeite with the materials that have come to define her creations allowed her to create compositions that “share that same sense of life and history,” explains Furmanovich. “I have always believed that gemstones become even more meaningful when they exist in conversation with organic materials.”
The most pronounced expression of this intention appears in the jewels that incorporate marquetry, a decorative technique in which wood veneers are cut and assembled in intricate, colorful patterns. For example, pink and lavender jade appear in a pair of earrings that dangle pendants detailed with colorful marquetry bands to capture the “gills” seen on the underside of mushrooms (pictured below).
Furmanovich is particularly proud of the Wild Orchid earrings, with their delicately speckled marquetry petals (pictured below). “Nature often appears simple, yet it is built from infinite layers of detail,” says the designer. “The greatest artisans understand this, and their work allows us to appreciate that complexity. That is what I hope collectors will discover every time they look at these earrings.”
A bonus: The designs also carry the energy and symbolism that many cultures ascribe to jade. Effectively, each jewel can be understood as a way to harness, or manifest, protection, prosperity, harmony, and longevity: “Jade is one of the earth’s oldest treasures, while wood reminds us of growth, renewal, and the passing of time. Bringing them together creates a balance between permanence and nature that feels deeply poetic.”
And, Furmanovich adds, “every surface reveals the hand of the artisan who created it. Those human traces are what transform an object into something with soul.” In an age of mass production and AI-generated everything, that human element may be one of the collection’s most compelling features.
Top: Sacred Leaf cuff bracelet and Sacred Leaf earrings in 18k yellow gold with carved braúna wood, green jadeite, and diamonds, prices on request
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