Jewelry News Network: Three Keys to Selling Fine Jewelry

Jewelry News Network: Three Keys to Selling Fine Jewelry: This is one of a series of articles by Mónica Arias of Excellence Consulting, a luxury sales and marketing consulting firm based in Buenos A...

Jewelry News Network: Eye Catching Jewelry from the 2012 AGTA Spectrum A...

Jewelry News Network: Eye Catching Jewelry from the 2012 AGTA Spectrum A...: A carved jade fish accented with fire opals by Manya & Roumen. It tied for first place among editors who attended the Spectrum Awards edit...

         We are not talking about a metal based ring with studded diamonds. This is actually A single Diamond, that makes it to the crown of a ring actually goes all around to form the ring itself. Mohamed Shawesh, President and CEO of Shawish Jewelry from Geneva, was THEE one to be struck by this Brilliant lightening bolt.
         He did attempt to do what would actually seem impossible, otherwise. But creating the ring wasn't as easy, it firstly took the company one year to get the copyright and multiple tests were tried with the design , to get the precision of the circle right.
          A special laser equipment had to be bought to cut directly into the diamond.  The final result is a single faceted diamond weighing 150 carats , which will fetch $70.46 million (43 million pounds). The unveiling of the creation was done at an exclusive event at Il Bottaccio in London, using a detailed 3D animation. Watch the stunning video.

            The Paua shell travels slowly across the rocks, beneath the ocean munching on seaweed. Its drab outer shell encrusted with heavy lime deposits and tiny marine creatures, conceals an interior of iridescent colours- cool blues, sea greens and inky purples that run into soft yellows and pinks with splashes of gold and silver. The shell is a unique abalone shell that lives exclusively in the seas surrounding New zealand.

         The colours of the shell, change when viewed in different angles. Thus , jewellery consisting of the shell is highly valued. It is made of alternating layers of protein and calcium build up, quite similar to opals. This is why they have earned the name, Opal of the sea.

       Inspired by the Paua shell's glittering colours of the ocean , i designed this chinese fan-shaped petal earrings. Pearls and Amethyst in the petal-shape compliment the motif of the design as well as, the dominant colour of the shell. Using the base metal as silver, the earring has been crafted meticulously with a jagged-egde on fine leaves of metal. It has thus, earned its name as, The Purple petal earring.

   Thrilling, Spooky, Mysterious, Supernatural, Magical are all by means, intriguing to the human mind. If not a belief, we are always attracted to a conspiracy. For instance, the religion of Witchcraft is practice, but disguised with the old english term for witch, Wicca.
   Spells used, fascinated me thus resulted in the creation of a Wiccan collection of my own. Below, the Art-work is to the right, sided by the fabricated piece to the left.

Healing Quartz and candle spell ~ Candle-holder
The designed candle holder has a symbol in the center, which is a Celtic sign. the ritual is to be repeated for 7 nights which is interpreted in the 7 triangles of the star, at the bottom posed as a stand.

The Warding of the Evil eye spell ~ Chalice
the eye symbol in the center is inscribes on the candle during the ritual. the black onyx bead and Mother of pearl stars hung from the top indicate the 6 white and 1 black candle used during the spell. As this spell is to be performed on a new moon phase, the lady of the moon is used as a top-lid to the chalice.

The Book of Shadows ~Pendant

The book is a journal kept by a wiccan to keep record of the proceedings of the magical practice. It includes information on the Phases of the moon, which is depicted by the domed metal pieces. The Scourge in the drawing, is the feather which is a tool of craft.

The Love spell ~ Necklace
The spell is chanted to the Goddess of love, Venus, who lies moulded in the center of the jewel. The ups and downs in love are indicated by the irregular rose quartz beads that predict the journey towards a well-formed love. The Goddess holds close to her chest, a polished Amethyst, exactly what she offers. The necklace when worn falls in the shape of a heart.

  Wearing a heart as a ring design would strike as corny to a few, but when it's been originated in a Irish fishing village of Claddagh, the significance of the symbolic elements are hard not to be stupefied by. The ring was first produced in the 17th century, during the reign of Queen Mary II.
  The Claddagh ring is a traditional Irish ring given as a token of love or worn as a wedding ring. The two hands depict - Friendship, which clasp the Heart - Love, usually surmounted by a crown - Loyalty. Defining statuses, such as, the ring worn on the right ring finger with the heart pointing to the fingertip, means the wearer is free of any attachment and the wearer is romantically involved, when the similar positioned ring has been turned around. The wedding ring is an heirloom in the Irish family and is passed on from the mother to her daughter first married and so on to their descendants.
  A Heart-shaped birthstone mounted on the ring in place of the metal heart, serves as an excellent gift for a friend. The Claddagh wedding band has quite an exclusive and exotic design as seen above.
  Jim Morrison of The Doors and Irish American author, Patricia Kennealy- Morrison exchanged Claddagh during their Celtic Pagan handfasting, which is a traditional European ceremony of betrothal or wedding. Jill Maderson in the James Bond novel Goldfinger, wore a gold Claddagh ring. A lot of  recently released movies such as Leap year and Kill the Irishman have characters proposing to their loved one's with a claddagh ring. Along with Hollywoods latest obsession for the Irishman and his inimitable accent and madness, comes the birth of the Claddagh ring on the big screen.  

The true essence of Jewellery lies in it's inspiration and in the hands of the craftsmen. Here above, i got to do both, i.e inspirational design and manufacturing. What you see is a Jadai-Hu, an ensemble for the head and braid inspired by the vast temple-architecture of Karnataka . Two medallions made of wood, are carved to depict the sculpture of Lakshmi-Narayana and the naga ,a coiled snake which are further coated with gray paint to replicate the look of the temple stone. Repousse work is a technique, where a malleable metal, such as copper medallions used in here, is shaped by hammering from the reverse side.The Jadai-hu is at last dipped in gold to complete the traditional Gold ornament, along with the black-orange paranda at the ending.

Voila! My State project ornament helps the model look her best!

Argentum~Silver at its creative best! The Trio above have 3 exotic jewels, which narrate an individual tale of their own. Starting from the left, a personal favourite, has gems torn down from 3 different jewel-casing , to end up in an hap-hazard perfection. The yellow stone which is the Citrine, has its prongs gold-plated Silver to compliment the deep yellowish-orange hue, while the remaining American diamonds are cased in rhodium-plated Silver. The Silver spangle earrings in the center are one of my best gifts received by, well, a special Aunt. A product of  pure traditional craftsmenship, contemporary in its ways with a percentage of a 100 in its versatile factor. Dainty leafy silver beauties stand pretty towards the right-end. Its not only in the shape of a leaf but it also has tiny leaves dangling from the slanting veins. The design was conceptualized for the Jewels by the bay collection, which is gold-plated to create a richer look, when contrast to the contemporary one. The white metal has an essence of its own, none that can be replicated by any other metal. Resulting in State-of-the-art pieces!

While the rest ogle over the creations of Prestige Jewellery houses such as Harry Winston, Chopard, H.Stern...I sure have my eyes set on de Grisogono (Geneva). Fawaz Gruosi, the creator of the Swiss brand is the inventor of the World's most magnificent pieces of twinkly Heaven. Wholesome Jewellery that exhibits spectacular dimensions and grades of precious and semi-precious gemstones. He was the first jeweller to throw the spotlight on Black Diamonds, not missing out the marvelous idea that crept up from the depths of the ocean, Galuchat paired with gemstones. Galuchat, meaning sharkskin or stingray skin, named after Louis XV's master leather artisan, Jean-Claude Galuchat, who introduced this exotic material to France during the 18th century. What you see above is a chocolate galuchat with metal droplets of  Fawaz's other invention - Browny Brown gold. For a Musical show of de Grisogono's masterpieces, visit- http://www.degrisogono.com/#/en/high-jewellery                                                     

   Playing Michelangelo's role, sculpting my creativity through natural resources is what i dream about, for a living. Allotrope of Carbon (Diamond) , Aluminium oxide (Ruby) , Beryl (Emerald) , Calcium carbonate (Pearl) are the colours on my palette . Whereas, Aurum (Gold) , Argentum (Silver) , Cuprum (Copper), Brass are my canvas.
   I never really was obsessed with the luxury, sparkly, expensive jewellery nor did i ever dream of  impersonating Elizabeth Taylor, flaunting the most Flamboyant necklaces, around town. But something did eventually draw me towards this bay, it was 'The Art ', the art that needed an endless array of creative notions, exploring of the unknown, aesthetics and chemical compositions. It almost felt as a Professional balance that was satisfactory. Being able to manually work with metals and stones manifested ideas on a contradictory circumstance that can not be borne out of sameness.