Asheville, a new collection from the house of David Webb, embraces a distinctive floral motif, but it would be a mistake to say it stems directly from a specific genus of flower, or even from the company’s robust design archives. “We meant to express an archetypical flower,” David Webb co-owner and creative director Mark Emanuel said in the collection notes. The bloom he and his team imagined—clusters of cabochon gemstones and beads juxtaposed with gold chains and enamel—introduces entirely new elements to the David Webb lexicon.
But the cultural mood that inspired the design direction finds its roots in a similar moment in history: the 1960s youthquake. An era of social unrest, yes, but also of flower children and daisy chains. “Design follows culture and social events,” noted Emanuel. “There’s an urge to reject darkness, much like in the golden age from 1963 to 1975 when the world awoke.”
Then, as now, the flower stood as a symbol of changing times, a reverence for nature, and a reawakening of the mind and spirit.
Composed of eight pieces and two distinct colorways, the collection is named for Webb’s North Carolina hometown, where the designer received his earliest education in jewelry-making and developed an affinity for gardens and flowers.
Under Emanuel’s direction, the design team created a unique chain after revisiting more than 100 existing styles. Weighty, curvy, and bold, it is a modern descendant of the David Webb universe. Juxtaposing flowers and chains reveals “the combinatory power of strength and femininity,” said Emanuel.
And the current collective impulse to embrace an attitude of optimism and light, invoking the past while remaining firmly tethered to the variable rhythms of the present day. “Let the sunshine in” is all we can do.
A few Asheville hot spots, below.
Top: The legendary jeweler David Webb believed that “today’s élégante wants her fashion to say something” in the 1960s, and the new Asheville collection, with its central floral motif and altogether buoyant mood, proves the same is true today. Asheville bracelet in 18k gold and platinum with cabochon ruby, pink opal, emerald beads, carved turquoise, brilliant-cut diamonds, and white enamel, $29,500; David Webb
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