In March, when I visited the Lauren K booth at JANY, it was not long after JCK Tucson and I had to know: What did the line’s designer Lauren Kessler buy at the various gem shows? She’d posted a few of her gemstone finds already, and I wanted to see more. The New York City–based designer whipped out her iPhone, let me take a peek, and it was basically piles upon piles of everything from bicolor sapphires and amazonites to Kessler’s signature watermelon tourmalines.
JCK Las Vegas is just about two weeks away, so I recently asked Kessler if she’d be showing new pieces that incorporated some of her Tucson treasures.
You can consider this All That Glitters post her answer.
Below is a Before/After photo album that Kessler and I put together as a way to trace the journey of the stones from Tucson to Kessler’s New York City studio to their upcoming moment in the spotlight in Las Vegas. You can view them for yourself at JCK LUXURY (Prestige, booth 1825).
BEFORE
Bicolor pink-and-blue sapphires
“We love these sapphires and have named the color ‘pink and ink,” says Kessler. “We had never seen stones like this before and had to have them.”
AFTER
Four-stone Joyce earrings with diamonds and sapphires in 18k gold, $4,295
BEFORE
Free-form boulder opals and cabochon tsavorites
“Often we choose our stones because we fall in love with the color and shape, but we don’t necessarily know how we’ll use them,” says Kessler. “We couldn’t resist putting these stones together—the bright green of the tsavorites worked beautifully with flashes of green in the opals.”
AFTER
Three-stone Joyce earrings with boulder opals, tsavorites, and diamonds in 18k gold, $6,750
BEFORE
Mirror-cut morganite
“We love creating with mirror-cut stones,” says Kessler. “They’re unique, unusual, and not easy to come by.”
AFTER
Mischa ring with mirror-cut morganite and diamonds in 18k yellow gold, $5,940
BEFORE
Hexagonal-shape aquamarines
AFTER
Joyce cluster necklace with aquamarines and diamonds in 18k gold, $3,150
BEFORE
Rose-cut rainbow sapphires
“We couldn’t pass on these stones. They look like candy, and we’ve used them in multiple pieces this spring,” says Kessler.
AFTER
Five-stone Joyce earrings with rose-cut rainbow sapphires and diamonds in 18k gold, $5,500
BEFORE
Hexagonal watermelon tourmalines
AFTER
Two-stone Joyce earrings with hexagonal watermelon tourmalines and free-form green tourmalines and diamonds in 18k gold, $3,650
BEFORE
Green tourmaline drops
“I had never really seen this type of striation and pattern in tourmaline before,” says Kessler. “These stones were so interesting and unique.”
AFTER
Three-stone Joyce earrings with yellow and green sapphires, green tourmaline drops, and diamonds in 18k gold, $4,400
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