Opal Opulence
THE BIGGEST NAMES IN JEWELLERY BRING AN INTRIGUING STONE INTO THE SPOTLIGHT
Opals are perhaps one of the most underrated gemstones out there, but they are as beautiful as they are fascinating. Most of the world’s finest opals come from Australia and Ethiopia. Selection is often a personal choice, as there are many variations in colour and gradation. Fortunately, the stone has gained the attention of jewellery brands and designers, even headlining a number of top collections this year.
One of the pieces in Louis Vuitton’s fifth high jewellery collection, Acte V, is an art deco-inspired necklace comprising a gigantic triangular 87.92-carat black opal matched with a pear-shaped 16.5-carat tsavorite, a rare Burmese sapphire, and mandarin garnets and kite-cut Panjshir emeralds. The line includes bracelets and earrings featuring the V motif surrounded by diamonds, a tribute to Louis Vuitton’s unmistakable ideogram, which was created in the 1920s by the founder’s grandson, Gaston-louis.
One of the stunning pieces from Boucheron’s Rêves d’ailleurs (Dreams of Elsewhere) is the Indian Palace ring, which features an opal reflecting a spectrum of light surrounded by round diamonds.
Chaumet features the stone in its Biennale des Antiquaires collection, Lumières d’eau, which draws inspiration from water—from the Arctic’s eerily beautiful icebergs to the small, intriguing islands of the Pacific. A unique bracelet from this line is set with a stunning 39.05-carat cabochoncut white opal from Ethiopia, which is surrounded with brilliant-cut diamonds, oval violet sapphires from Sri Lanka and round violet sapphires from Madagascar.
Piaget has been dabbling with using gemstones as dials for some time and executes this skill superbly with opal in the Extremely Piaget cuff watch. The piece, which is driven by a Piaget 56P quartz movement, is encrusted with an astounding 1,699 brilliant-cut white diamonds.