Over the past couple of days, I’ve seen some jewelry that is stunning enough to spark the interest of even the hardest-hit portfolio owners. Jewelry designers have responded to the times with some creative looks like polished selections of rough stone cuts, highly technical settings masked by beautiful stone mosaics, flexible gold jewelry to accommodate an extra pound or two on frames, and more. And while this show may be a tad light on traffic, the new pieces shown are sure to have the absent retailers second-guessing their decisions to stay home. Here’s a selection of what I’ve been seeing. Enjoy.
The Gardenia collection is inspired by–what else?–flowers. Carrera Y Carrera
Interchangeable watch bezels feature motifs from their jewelry. Carrera Y Carrera
Pave beads alternate with South Sea baroques. Clasps are interchangeable. Gellner
Looks kind of like Legos, eh? The photo illustrates how the finished piece is made. It’s a remarkable way to set stones so that no prongs show. Mattia Cielo
It’s tough (for me) to resist pearls: South Sea strands and Tahitians set in 18k gold and diamonds. Utopia
A fabulous diamond and gold bracelet, and ‘flat’ diamonds–polished cuts of rough stones. Fani
The first photo shows the Bamboo collection and the second shows the Marta collection with pieces in gold, onyx, and diamonds. [Marta is the daugher of designer Maria Barberis.] Carlo Barberis
Simple stones used in extraordinary ways: onyx, brown quartz, and amethyst are set over gold patterns and are accented with diamonds.Talento
Polished selections of rough rubies are accented by black and colorless diamonds. Normally, I don’t like black and red together, but in these rings, the color combination is dynamite because you just don’t expect to see ruby paired with black diamonds. Oro Trend
The Coil collection features flexible pieces. The bracelets slide easily on wrists and require no clasp, while the rings are forgiving if you gain a few pounds. This is a great selling point for women. Garavelli
Fired enamel jewelry is all made in Germany. Most pieces feature guilloche engraving underneath. To get pieces that look like this, you must 1) paint the enamel onto the jewelry, 2) burn the enamel several times, polishing the layers in between, and 3) most likely be a craftsman in Victor Mayer’s workshop to get these kind of results. Victor Mayer
New bracelets from Sevan are as extraordinary as his infamous rings. The leather piece is Sevan’s personal bracelet, and if I could brag for a minute, Sevan took it off his wrist and let me wear while I was at his booth. I wore the bracelet of a metalsmithing master today. The first piece is my favorite, though, because it’s gorgeous. Sevan
New rings are from his Mt. Ida collection, which honors Turkey’s rich mythological roots. Can you see the profile of the god carved into the ring? Sevan
Finally, I met Ole and Charlotte Lynggaard in 2002, and was delighted to see them here at Baselworld. They previously sold their jewelry in the Scandinavian market, but are starting to branch out into the rest of the world. Stop by and see them in Hall 2.1 and check out their new charm collection called Sweet Drops for women and Spot On for men. The charms are strung on the coolest leather cords I’ve ever seen. Ole Lynggaard, Copenhagen, Denmark.
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