Spring revival
Paper Flowers, the first jewellery collection by newly appointed Tiffany & Co. Chief Artistic Officer Reed Krakoff, embraces the 180-year-old brand’s rich legacy while injecting a dose of youthful dynamism, discovers zara zhuang
what a way to make an entrance: For his first jewellery launch since becoming Chief Artistic Officer at Tiffany & Co. last February, Reed Krakoff returned to the brand’s roots and pulled together inspirations from a variety of sources to create a collection that is a breath of fresh air yet undeniably Tiffany. Paper Flowers, described as a balance of refined femininity and industrial modernity, is the brand’s most significant fine jewellery collection since the Tiffany Keys from 2009.
Inspired by the idea of abstract petals cut out of paper, arranged in a random fashion and pinned back together — “flowers of the imagination… a simpler, poetic version of its former self” — the collection comprises necklaces, pendants, earrings, bracelets, rings and a tiara, and launches in Singapore this month. Among the line-up of more than 40 are 12 high jewellery pieces. Paper Flowers, which marks a first for the brand by straddling high and fine jewellery, is in line with Krakoff’s push to focus on fewer ideas but explore them in depth.
In a nod to the company’s heritage, the collection took notes from an iris in an archival watercolour sketch from 1881, which led to a palette of purples, blues and yellows through tanzanites, sapphires and yellow diamonds. (The first is one of Tiffany & Co.’s legacy gemstones, which it discovered in Tanzania and introduced into its jewellery in 1968.) Along with highly polished platinum and a generous shower of dazzling diamonds, the materials and forms culminate in an “unexpected juxtaposition of proportion, a contrast in texture”.
The star of Paper Flowers is a high jewellery bib resplendent in 68ct of pear-shaped or round brilliant diamonds, each platinum petal joined to the next or to solitaires, to create a necklace that drapes with fluid abandon. Other highlights
“We tried to use more precious metals and find a balance between gemstones, metals and different colourations”
include tanzanite and sapphire earrings, rings and pendants set with white diamond pavé and yellow diamonds employed as the glowing abdomen of fireflies, and a platinum tiara adorned with more than 300 round brilliant melee diamonds, the last in keeping to Tiffany & Co.’s legacy of fashioning diamond tiaras that goes back to 1890. Platinum openwork structures infuse lightness through the collection for a visual impact ranging from ethereal to bold.
In contrast to the almost riotous kaleidoscope of hues of Vivid Dreams, The Extraordinary Colors of Tiffany high jewellery collection of last October, Paper Flowers exhibits a subdued tonality — an entirely intentional decision on Krakoff’s part. “We tried to use more precious metals and find a balance between gemstones, metals and different colourations,” he shared during the Paper Flowers collection presentation in Hong Kong in July. “It’s more subtle… not the classic sapphire, ruby, emerald kind of colours — [we used] more nuanced colours to create a nontypical palette for the collection.”
Krakoff is no stranger to jewellery — as executive creative director at Coach, he launched an eponymous line of ready-to-wear, fragrances and accessories in 2009. But high jewellery is an arena he only ventured into with Paper Flowers. “The materials and gemstones [used] and the amount of time [high jewellery] takes is extraordinary,” he opines. “And the materials are so valuable that you can’t make samples the way you would in almost any other category.”