Nature beckons, and it’s inspired the world’s finest jewellery designers and artisans to sculpt some stunning pieces. P.Ramakrishnan writes.
The Big Idea: The Talisman
Video Killed the Radio Star came out in 1979, the advent of something newer, shinier, trendier killing the old. VHS did the same to Betamax, and DVDs to VHS. Netflix bled Blockbuster dry, the iPhone choked Blackberry until it turned blue, Google muted Yahoo, and lab-grown diamonds did… well, what do you know. Almost nothing.
The supposed harbinger of doom caused many an editorial to foretell the end of the diamond monopoly, when lab-grown gemstones would be all the rage and the prices of mined diamonds would falter as centurion designer maisons would fall brick by brick for cheaper (well, less expensive) substitutes that perfectly mimicked nature’s majesty.
Sure, the fads made headlines pre-pandemic, but they didn’t make history. Sales of vintage, coloured, celebrity-owned, and royal jewels reached peak levels at auction; fashion houses known for their sartorial selections raised the stakes by stepping into high jewellery; long-standing European brands opened stores far from their shores; Asian designers broke records as esteemed auction houses saw only the gavel fall, not the prices, demand, or curiosity about precious gems displayed by the toniest brands in the world.
Breaking into unheard-of figures, the De Beers Blue sold for HK$450.9 million (US$57.4 million) at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong. The Juno Diamond, a pear-shaped rock weighing 101.41 carats, sold at US$12.9 million (HK$100.8 million) in New York to an Asian collector (in fact, among the top magnificent jewels auctions held last year, multiple winning bids came from Hong Kong). The talisman of doom went bust while the demand for rare stones and designer jewellery went boom even in the harshest of economic times. Perhaps some saw them as safe investments, with others simply finding beauty in bleak times.
While not as ephemeral as fashion, even jewellery sways—well, budges—to fad and trend. When we first started keeping tabs on the best of the year’s jewellery, spring was certainly in the air and we saw a pattern rising: nature as inspiration. Sure, not the first time, but the key is in the doing. In the first quarter of the pandemic, as news channels noted the return to and the return of nature, seemingly every creative of note saw and took comfort and inspiration. The birds and the bees tantalised the creative brush as flora, fauna, and feathers informed cut, colour, and motif.
And back to the commercial side, while the pandemic sent many a schedule off kilter—premieres and presentations were held off or a bit less lavish—a slew of beautiful pieces did make it to these shores, where they were eagerly awaited by those who didn’t fly private to Paris for a first sighting. And where they spread a little welcome light. As Elizabeth Taylor famously said, “You can’t cry on a diamond’s shoulder, and diamonds won’t keep you warm at night, but they’re sure fun when the sun shines.”
The Top Jewellery Brands of the year are... read the entire feature at RobbReport.HK here.
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