Marine delights
Jewellers have become fascinated with the ocean’s depths, creating a sparkling haul of colourful, sea-inspired designs
Jewellers plumb the depths of the ocean for a sparkling haul of sea-inspired designs
Starfish, whales and Siamese fighting fish are just a few of the many pretty bejewelled sea creatures floating into the scene this summer. The increasing popularity of coloured gemstones such as aquamarines, Paraiba tourmalines and mandarin garnets provides designers with a brilliant palette with which to interpret underwater life. Van Cleef & Arpels’ high jewellery collection, The Extraordinary Voyages, is inspired by the Jules Verne classic Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. The collection celebrates Verne’s underwater marvels with such pieces as the Thenaria necklace, whose centrepiece is a cushioncut aquamarine surrounded by diamonds, pink spinels and more aquamarines in gradating colours. It also includes the Baleine Bleue clip, whose round white and grey diamonds, sapphires and white mother-of-pearl form a blue whale. A mechanism at the bottom of the brooch allows a stream of diamond bubbles to appear from the whale’s blowhole.
California-based designer Martin Katz uses Paraiba tourmalines, tsavorite, diamonds and a large South Sea pearl in a starfish brooch set in antiqued sterling silver and 18K gold, microset with 214 round diamonds. At Dior Joaillerie, creative director Victoire de Castellane continues to design fantastical sea creatures. The Coffret de Victoire Tortue ring features an Ethiopian opal forming a tortoise’s shell with spessartite garnets for the head, arms and legs, adorned with emeralds and diamonds. A colourful pair of earrings, the Coffret de Victoire Poissons Combattants (Siamese fighting fish), feature two fish attached to teardropshaped peridots, one in a combination of orange and yellow sapphires with black and red spinels, and the other in a mix of purple sapphires and black spinels.