The elaborate jewels of Swiss designer Vincent Michel.
Do sparks from a volcano shine brighter or diamonds from a ring? Vincent Michel is convinced that the right answer is the latter. Precious stones were also the first passion of the Swiss jeweler, based in Lausanne, who was attracted to the craft when he was only 12 years old. A visit by him, with his mother, to a jewelery workshop introduced him to the magic of the chisel, but also of the blowtorch and gems. Although at a certain point in his life Vincent Michel was also tempted to become a volcanologist.
After the first experiments, as a hobby, high-end jewelery has become his profession. His journey began at the Vallée de Joux Technical School, in the jewelery section. And his talent is demonstrated by his victory in the Swiss jewelery championship. A success that prompted him to found his own brand, after the classic internship with the same jeweler he had admired as a teenager. In 2016 the big step, with the opening of his boutique in the Swiss city, where he creates and works, with a laboratory visible to customers: it also serves to show the technical ability, which allows the jeweler to create small masterpieces that can take up to at 300 working hours.
The jewels are handmade, even custom made. But the designer uses both traditional methods and new technologies such as CAD design and 3D printing. The result is jewels such as the Vol d’Abeille (bee flight) necklace in white gold, diamonds and 45 paraiba tourmalines. Or the Hibiscus ring, in 750 yellow gold (with a central part in 750 rose gold) which has an oval spinel of 4.65 carats set in the center, green sapphires, demantoid garnets, pink sapphires and natural diamonds.
