b'THE STATE OF RETAIL COLOREDDIAMONDSJEWELRY STONES DESIGNA great example of this is the high priest of color and innovative materials, and a role model for many designers featured in this article, James de Givenchy. The creative director of Taffin has been incorporating color into his creations from the start. He was one of the first jewelers to bring ceramic into his designs in 2010. De Givenchy continues to master-fully embrace ceramics in a rainbow of colors with stones to match and in 2019, introduced Venetian glass in his custom creations, which he hasA pair of Venetian glass bead and continued to use. 18-karat rose gold ear clips from Taffin It is exciting to see the wide-rang- featuring Old European-cut diamondsing approaches that designers take to imbue their work with color. Los Angeles-based designer Lau-ren Harwell Godfrey has developed a signature triangle inlay that isto her jewels, she works with titanium because, Dumas says, it is seen across her collections for her namesake brand, Harwell Godfrey.lightweight and, more importantly, because color can be added The designer favors large-scale gemstones and saturated colors.through anodizing. She recently looked to Ancient Egypt for inspiration after travelingDumas has created a series of one-of-a-kind leaves of different there, reimagining her design signature for the Cleopatras Vaultshapes and colors. Her purple leaves are titanium with 18-karat gold collection. and sapphires. Emerging British jewelry designer Rachel Jones, who in five yearsA look back to the Art Deco period shows that there is a long histo-should be a household name, plays with color not only in the stonesry of industrial materials acting as a muse for high jewelry. she chooses but also through her alloys.New York master goldsmith Sean Gilson is not afraid of using some She pairs colored gemstones with gold that either matches or con- of these materials. After being in the industry 40 years, having your trasts with the natural coloring of the stone.own point of view is the key to lasting success, he says. Jones started the practice of making her own gold alloys while aRecently, the goldsmith created a ring with a steel shank made student at Londons Royal College of Art, and it has now become thefrom natural pearls to accompany an opal and colored diamonds. cornerstone of her brand.It took him three years to complete the ring because he had to To double down on the use of color, she usesfind the right range of natural pearl colors to complement the opal. parti stones, gemstones that show more than oneThe result is black natural pearls surrounding the flat color at a time, and matches the gold to theopal and making it look like a pool of water. The stones, as seen in her parti citrine ring withband that joins the top element is made of bi-color citrine-quartz in 9-karat whiteblued steel with diamonds set into it. gold and 18-karat yellow gold. Steel is an interesting choice that Gilson made because he could get the color that he was Precious Is aaiming for and appreciated State of Mind the idea of something so tough being combined with Playing with metal takes a highly the elegance and softness of the skilled jeweler.pearls, he says. The French jewelry artist Alix Dumas,The ring is a true masterpiece. who creates pieces under the label MaisonFor Gilson, its less relevant what Alix Dumas, also called MAD Joaillerie,materials he uses as long as they can launched her company in 2020 but has beenproduce the desired effect and the in the industry working under otherpiece meet the needs of the wearer.prominent jewelers since 2012.When thinking five years ahead, it In five years, Dumas, like Jones, will needThis Rachel Jonesis important to note that, like Gilson, no introduction.ring features a bi- it can take many years to complete a color citrine-quartz.Always looking for a unique approachpiece or a collection. 72 STATE OF THE MAJORS 2024'