If you meet him on one of California’s wide roads, riding his powerful Easy Rider-style motorcycle, you would never say Victor Velyan is a renowned jeweler and fine jewelry designer. But the appearance is deceiving. It is true, however, that the designer has an unconventional life behind him by jewelry standards. As a boy he played in a rock band, then spent 12 years in Africa as a safari guide. But in 1984 he returned to his homeland and started working as a diamond setter and then an apprentice jeweler. Having learned the techniques necessary to attempt a new adventure, he opened his own company, but with the idea of producing on behalf of third parties. Also because, as he says, it must be frustrating to have won over 27 awards, but under the name of other designers.
Until he decided, as often happens, to put his experience with one of his Maison to good use. Victor Velyan’s jewels, however, also hide past lives in the design. Large stones, sometimes juxtaposed in clusters, with often fancy or cabochon cuts, diamonds, paraiba tourmaline, emeralds, opals and lots of gold. Jewels that combine luxury with a musical rhythm, with the vivid colors of Africa, with the freedom of motorcycle travel.
