November 03, 2016

Tiffany's Fall Legendary Style Campaign

November 03, 2016/ Kathleen Marino

Tiffany & Co. unveiled its fall 2016 advertising campaign back in June. The campaign celebrates the company’s legendary designs through a series featuring celebrity talent known for their unique style and point of view. The tagline—Some Style is Legendary—captures the timeless appeal of Tiffany’s iconic jewelry worn by women for whom Tiffany is a powerful means of self-expression.

The Legendary Style campaign is a collaboration and creative partnership with fashion visionary Grace Coddington. This is her first-ever brand advertising campaign since becoming creative director-at-large for American Vogue. Coddington dedicated nearly 50 years — 28 years at American Vogue with 21 years as creative director — and 20 years at Vogue UK. “Tiffany—and its famed Blue Box—has always held special meaning for me,” said Coddington, who had a hand in selecting the talent. “To me this is not just an ad campaign, but an opportunity to portray a legendary house of luxury through modern portraits of uniquely talented subjects.”

The authentic, powerful portraits include Oscar®-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o, actress Elle Fanning, as well as maternal health advocate and model Christy Turlington Burns, and model Natalie Westling wearing Tiffany jewelry and photographed by David Sims. Mirroring the print campaign is a cinematic black and white video series directed by Sims, where each woman shares her interpretation of legendary style. Chosen for being true originals, this talented cast wears iconic Tiffany designs that reflect both their style and identity.

Echoing her strength and vibrancy, Nyong’o wears the Tiffany T Square bracelet—an expression of confidence. Dazzling Tiffany Keys are a symbol of a brilliant future, while Tiffany Victoria® radiates glamour, which Fanning embodies as a young dreamer in the world of endless opportunity. Turlington Burns is a woman of elegance and purpose who finds beauty in simplicity, which she reflects by wearing Elsa Peretti® Diamonds by the Yard® and the new Tiffany T Square bracelets with diamonds, launching fall/winter 2016. The latest iteration of the Tiffany T collection, Tiffany T Two rings also debuts this fall/winter. Worn by Westling, a seeker of freedom in New York City, the bold diamond bands are an icon for a new era.

“For generations, Tiffany has defined the true meaning of legendary style. For our latest campaign, we set out to find the best creative talents both behind and in front of the camera, to present our iconic collections,” said Caroline Naggiar, chief brand officer, Tiffany & Co. “Who better than Grace Coddington, a style legend in her own right, to serve as our creative partner.”

Women of substance, sophistication and style have worn Tiffany jewelry throughout the company’s 180-year history. The campaign imagery captures the way in which Tiffany designs transcend time, transforming the wearer and irrevocably changing the way they move through the world. The images will appear in print and video, as well as across digital properties under the hashtag #LegendaryStyle.

Tiffany is the internationally renowned jeweler founded in New York in 1837. Through its subsidiaries, Tiffany & Co. manufactures products and operates TIFFANY & CO. retail stores worldwide, and also engages in direct selling through Internet, catalog and business gift operations. For additional information, please visit Tiffany.com.

TIFFANY & CO. and TIFFANY are trademarks of Tiffany and Company.

ELLE FANNING WEARS A TIFFANY VICTORIA® DIAMOND CLUSTER NECKLACE

Actress Lupita Nyong’o wears a Tiffany T square bracelet and Tiffany T Ring

Natalie Westling wears Tiffany solitaire diamond earrings and Tiffany T Rings

Christy Turlington in Tiffany T Bracelet and Soltiaire Earrings

Christy Turlington wears Elsa Peretti® Diamonds by the Yard® necklace

Visit the Tiffany & Co. website for more information.

August 25, 2016

75 Pound "Good Luck Charm" May Be The World's Largest Pearl

August 25, 2016/ Kathleen Marino

The pearl is believed to be the biggest ever found. The authenticity of the pearl still must be verified by a gemologist for it to be named the world's largest. — The pearl is believed to be the biggest ever found. The authenticity of the pearl still must be verified by a gemologist for it to be named the world's largest.

Yesterday, mollusk mania took hold of the internet when reports surfaced of a massive pearl discovered in the Philippines. The 75-pound pearl was reportedly discovered by a fisherman about a decade ago when his anchor accidentally snagged a giant clam, G. Clay Whittaker reports for Popular Science. When he reeled it in, he was surprised to find a pearl nearly as big as the clam itself and kept it for years as a good luck charm.

While the pearl’s size may be stunning, the process that made it is more or less the same as the tiny ones worn on a string. When an object like a grain of sand gets stuck inside a mollusk’s shell, it can irritate the soft-bodied animal, which prompts it to start forming layers of calcium carbonate around the annoyance, according to Ellen Strong, a research zoologist at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

“It’s a natural process,” Strong tells Smithsonian.com. “The process of making a pearl is the outcome of making its shell.”

Though pearls are rarely found in clams, in theory it’s possible for nearly any shelled mollusk to make a pearl. All of these creatures harvest calcium carbonate from the water around them, which they use to form their hard, protective shells. Making a pearl is similar to creating the shell, but the layers of calcium carbonate encapsulate a foreign object instead of the mollusk’s own body.

“It’s like getting a splinter,” Strong says. “You don’t want to leave it in there. But unlike us, they don’t have opposable thumbs to help them pull it out.”

The pearl-making process isn’t just used to give the mollusk some relief from an abrasive object poking it in the soft parts—it can help fend off parasites as well. Mollusks are often the targets of parasites that bore into their shells in order to munch on the soft meat inside, but the same reaction that creates a pearl can also seal off these invaders and patch up the shell.

“It’s a defense mechanism like an immune response in humans,” Strong says. “It’s one of the options that it has to handle something that causes problems.”

The “Pearl of Puerto,” as local officials refer to the massive Philippine pearl, is certainly notable for its unusual size. While it still has to be confirmed by a gemologist, if it is a true pearl it could be the largest ever found, the BBC reports. By using x-rays to peer inside to its center, experts can count the gem’s growth rings, which are similar to those in a tree and can be used to estimate how long the giant clam worked to make this gigantic gem.

Pearls that are farmed, or cultured, grow to around a centimeter wide within a year, says Strong. Considering the size of the Pearl of Puerto, the giant clam had been worrying at it for quite some time.

Originally Reported by Smithsonian Magazine

August 01, 2016

AGTA & JA Adds Spinel as an Official Birthstone for August

August 01, 2016/ Kathleen Marino

Red, pink, lilac, and blue are commercially important spinel colors.

If you are an August baby that has bemoaned your peridot birthstone in the past you're in luck. this year the American Gem Trade Association (AGTA), the authoritative source on natural colored gemstones, and Jewelers of America (JA), the national trade association for businesses serving the fine jewelry marketplace, have announced that spinel will join the official list of birthstones as an additional gemstone for the month of August.

The new birthstone launched to consumers in July, through a public relations and marketing campaign led by JA, which established the modern birthstone list in 1912.

"At certain moments in history, when there is a strong call from gem enthusiasts to expand the list of official birthstones, Jewelers of America believes in recognizing the importance of historically significant gemstones and giving gemstone lovers a choice that suits their preferences," says JA President & CEO David J. Bonaparte. "Spinel is a welcome addition to August's peridot birthstone, sure to be embraced by both jewelers and the jewelry consuming public."

"Ancient gemstone merchants revered spinel, and it was widely sought after by royalty. It was then known as 'Balas Ruby'," says AGTA CEO Douglas Hucker. "It wasn't until the late 18th century that we developed the technology acumen necessary to distinguish spinel as a separate mineral from ruby. We are very excited to announce it as the newest member of the official birthstone list."

Two notable examples of spinel's historical significance include a 170-carat red spinel, known as the famed "Black Prince Ruby," that graces the Imperial State Crown in the British Crown Jewels; and a 398-carat red spinel - considered the largest ever found -atop the Imperial Crown of Russia, commissioned by Catherine the Great in 1763.

"Spinel is an incredible gemstone that has garnered respect for centuries, and it is enjoying surging popularity because of its stunning range of colors," remarks AGTA President Jeffrey Bilgore.

"Birthstones have their roots far back in recorded history, strongly influenced by biblical teaching and related to the 12 stones in the breast plate of Aaron as well as the lunar calendar," explains Hucker.

This is the third update to modern birthstone list since it was officially created in 1912 by the American National Retail Jewelers Association, now known as Jewelers of America. It was updated in 1952, adding alexandrite, citrine, tourmaline and zircon as birthstones, and again in 2002, when Tanzanite was made an additional December birthstone.

Jewelers of America
AGTA

February 11, 2016

Hemmerle Exhibit at the Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial

February 11, 2016/ Kathleen Marino

Hemmerle earrings, amber, patinated bronze, iron, pink gold, red gold: Photo Courtesy of HEMMERLE — Hemmerle earrings, amber, patinated bronze, iron, pink gold, red gold: Photo Courtesy of HEMMERLE

Hemmerle will be participating in Beauty—Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York from 12 February – 21 August 2016.
The bold, unostentatious creations included in the exhibition demonstrate Hemmerle’s dedication to craftsmanship, exceptional quality and innovative material combinations.

This fifth instalment of the Triennial exhibition series is dedicated to beauty and celebrates design as an endeavour that engages our full senses. Featuring work from over sixty voices in the global design scene, Beauty expands the discourse around the power of aesthetic innovation. The exhibition will be accompanied by an illustrated publication.

Hemmerle is a fourth generation, family run house at the vanguard of jewellery design. Each jewel is unique and as original as a work of art. Today, Christian Hemmerle runs the business with his wife Yasmin and parents Stefan and Sylveli Hemmerle. The family travel across the world treasure hunting for rare materials from Mughal-era brown diamonds to found materials like ancient carved jade.

Hemmerle’s creativity is driven by materials and the design process begins with a particular stone or object. The family then work around it, impeccably matching gems for colour and building up unusual textures and form. Hemmerle is drawn to experimenting with new materials; in a pair of earrings included in the exhibition, jasper and aquamarines are paired with concrete. Hemmerle worked with cement for days, experimenting to get the perfect shade of grey and a brushed texture on the concrete. In a ring, bright orange topaz has been set in pink gold, the metal corroded with chemicals to create holes in the surface.

Nature is an endless source of inspiration to Hemmerle and included in the exhibition is a eucalyptus brooch from Nature’s Jewels, a nature inspired jewellery collection and accompanying book published in 2014. Exquisitely modelled in brass, bronze and gold, glistening spiky diamonds inventively add to the realism of the eucalyptus. A pair of real shells are used in charming snail brooches, the bodies of the creatures crafted in white gold and yellow-brown diamonds. In another pair of earrings, a bee rests on intricately layered piece of honeycomb made from amber and patinated bronze.

Hemmerle bangle, garnets, white gold, silver: Photo courtesy of hemmerle

Hemmerle earrings, tourmaline, rubellite, spinels, sapphires, white gold, copper: Photo Courtesy of Hemmerle

A dedication to colour has defined Hemmerle’s work over the decades and included in the exhibition is a pair of mismatched earrings; one made from rubellite and pink sapphires and one from tourmaline and orange sapphires. Both are intricately engineered and balanced to contain movement through the copper and white gold framework. An open-ended Harmony Bangle with its seamless closure is made from purple garnets carefully colour-matched. A Harmony Bangle inspired by Egypt joined the permanent collection of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in 2014.

Found materials create a dramatic back drop for rare stones and are worked into a contemporary design. In earrings, two mismatched cameos face each other swinging in white gold frames set with diamonds. A necklace strap is created by knitting hand hewn agate beads in the round over silk and hung with a luxurious piece of ancient carved jade.

With Beauty, Cooper Hewitt shows that aesthetic innovations exist in our experience of an object. The exhibition celebrates objects and practices that are exuberant, ethereal, intricate, or even sublime. Objects of beauty provoke immediate reactions and demand judgment to exalt experience as a living, unfolding exchange between people and things.

Beauty — Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial
Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum
2 East 91st Street, New York
Exhibit Dates: 12 February – 21 August 2016

Hemmerle's Website

Hemmerle ring, topaz, pink gold, copper: Photo Courtesy of HEMMERLE

February 05, 2016

Van Cleef & Arpels: Midnight Nuit Lumineuse watch

February 05, 2016/ Kathleen Marino

Van Cleef & Arpels' innovative Midnight Nuit Lumineuse was inspired by the glittering of of the stars. The scene depicted in the watch unfolds against a background of aventurine glass and diamond stars, and various constellations are traced out in the white miniature painting. Then, as if by magic, it lights up in a remarkable way.

While the scene is inspired by the wonders of nature, the watch itself is a marvel of human ingenuity. The illumination is thanks to the use of the piezoelectricity phenomenon. The phenomenon of piezoelectricity has been studied since the 18th century. The term refers to the ability of certain materials to accumulate an electric charge when they are subjected to mechanical stress. This is the first Poetic Complications™ watch that creates a luminous motif illuminating the dial. The Midnight Nuit Lumineuse watch contains a strip of ceramic which, when caused to vibrate by the movement, mechanically generates electrical energy. This is used to power six electroluminescent diodes which – on demand – back-light the six diamonds visible on the dial. I think we can all agree that the effect is magical!

January 14, 2016

Hemmerle Announces New Jewelry Project

January 14, 2016/ Kathleen Marino

Hemmerle ´Clematis´ Brooch, sapphires, diamonds, aluminium, white gold. Image Courtesy of Hemmerle

Hemmerle has announced The [AL] Project, a new series of jewelry that explores the unique properties of aluminium through innovative design and exquisite craftsmanship.

The collection consists of over 15 pairs of earrings and a brooch. The one-of-a-kind pieces are inspired by eclectic themes such as nature, minimalism and geometry. Intricately crafted in aluminium and paired with gemstones such as diamonds, sapphires, aquamarines and garnets, the creations reflect Hemmerle’s strong visual identity. Aluminium is a metal with a rich history; once the most valuable and sought after material in the world, it went on to become used in almost every aspect of human life. Christian Hemmerle explains;

Aluminium’s natural strength and lightness in weight provided the perfect opportunity for us to experiment further with the metal and celebrate its past splendour. Its malleability enabled us to focus on innovation and create intricate works which are delicate in design yet highly durable, whilst remaining true to our dedication to craftsmanship. Informed by the aesthetic we have defined over several decades, the resulting creations are distinctly Hemmerle but imbued with an element of surprise.

Hemmerle Earrings, demantoid garnets, aluminium, bronze, white gold. Image Courtesy of Hemmerle

Through a process of anodizing, Hemmerle created aluminium in a variety of hues that complement the natural colors of gemstones. A clematis flower brooch is exquisitely modelled in aluminium, its petals full of purple nuances anodized to match perfectly in colour its diamond and purple sapphire centre. Textured dark red ranunculus flower earrings glisten with diamonds enclosed in their petals, set upside down to give a spiky effect. Vibrant bluebells are studded with sapphires and pink blossom and white lily-of-the-valley sparkle with diamonds. In further works, dark-green tsavorites and deep-blue sapphires are set within electric coloured green and blue frames. In a pair of earrings, pave diamonds are layered with black aluminium minimalist, systematic geometric forms.

The [AL] Project will be previewed at TEFAF Maastricht, 11 – 20 March 2016. A limited edition book will be published to celebrate the pieces.

Hemmerle is also participating in Beauty - Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York between 12 February – 21 August, 2016.

For a full calendar of their events and for more information on Hemmerle please visit their website: http://hemmerle.com/

Hemmerle is a fourth generation family run jeweler at the vanguard of contemporary design. Founded in 1893, each jewel conceived is handcrafted and layered with cultural references; they are as original as a work of art with a design aesthetic of powerfully audacious modernity. Today, Christian Hemmerle runs the business with his wife Yasmin and parents Stefan and Sylveli Hemmerle.

November 04, 2015

The Victoria's Secret Fireworks Fantasy Bra

November 04, 2015/ Kathleen Marino

Yesterday, Lily Aldridge was revealed as the wearer of Victoria’s Secret 2015 Fantasy Bra. And that same day, the Angel was at a Victoria’s Secret store in Los Angeles to unveil the bra and belt designed by renowned jeweler Mouawad. Valued at over $2 million, the Fireworks Fantasy Bra is certainly a sight to see!

The bra and detachable belt are adorned with more than 6,500 gemstones, including diamonds, blue topaz, yellow sapphires and pink quartz, all set in 18-karat gold. Vogue reported the bra’s total weight is just under 1,364 carats, with diamonds comprising 375 of those carats.

victorias_secret-2015-2-million-fireworks-fantasy-bra-lily_main.jpg

July 15, 2015

Buyer's Beware: Fake Pink Sapphire Discovered after 16 Years

July 15, 2015/ Kathleen Marino

Recently a truly buyer beware story has come out of Delaware where a woman has found out she’d been showing off a fake on her finger for the last 16 years. An expert deemed the pink sapphire in the ring her husband had bought for her birthday was worth only $30, instead of the $12,500 the couple thought.
They couple are now suing the jeweler who sold the diamond-and-sapphire ring to the husband in 1999. They are claiming the husband paid $9,000 just for the stone alone, yet it's value would have been allegedly only $10 according at that time, according to The News Journal.
“I was extremely proud of that ring,” the woman said. “I wore it a lot and got an awful lot of compliments. And all these years, I was wearing that fake. I feel like a fool showing off that ring. I can’t get that out of my head. Here all that excitement and Sam spent all that money, and it’s a fake.”
The husband has sued the business and its owners, seeking $37,000 to replace the ring, plus another $2,500 that he paid in insurance over 15 years. The jewelers had offered to replace the stone, but the woman said she didn’t want another sapphire from them.
The lawsuit in Delaware Court of Common Pleas alleges the business owners engaged in deceptive trade practices and breached their contract to sell a natural pink sapphire.
The jewelers responded to the lawsuit saying the couple’s claim is barred by the statute of limitations, and that the owners extended no warranties to the man when he bought the ring. They say the claim is because of wrongdoing by a Pennsylvania appraiser, and have filed a third-party lawsuit against that company.

This is yet another illustration of the importance of finding and consulting a qualified gemologist-jewelry appraiser at the time of purchase. If you have doubts or are considering a major gemstone purchase please consider a second opinion from a non-biased third party who is an expert in the field of gemstone identification! Take the "beware" out of buyer beware and purchase with confidence.
You can find qualified gemologist-jewelry appraisers through national organizations such as NAJA.

Kathleen Marino MA, GG, AJP, NAJA

October 28, 2014

AGTA Spectrum Awards 2015

October 28, 2014/ Kathleen Marino

The 2015 AGTA Spectrum award winners were announced. The categories cover everything from objects of art, faceted stones, carved stones, and jewelry for every occasion you can think of.
Here is just a taste of the entries that I thought were truly spectacular.