The Swarovski project, started three years ago, has finally been presented to the public: a collection, called Jeweled Garden, to highlight the wide range of stones and the cutting skills of its craftsmen. Eight rings, four bracelets and three necklaces in 18-karat gold and precious stones from multicolored sapphires to amethysts, garnets, spinels, topazes and rhodolites, designed by Matthew Campbell Laurenza, who studied sculpture before dedicating himself to jewelry. Hers are also the 15 hyper-realistic sculptures, taken from an enchanted garden where the flora and fauna are oversized and even a little extravagant: there is a black widow in silver plated in black rhodium, with legs almost 3 meters long studded with more than 30 thousand black spinels and 375 red topazes (295 thousand dollars), a very elaborate lilac branch almost 4 meters high composed of more than 30 thousand white, purple and pink topazes and (195 thousand dollars). A tribute to Rubens, to the cycle of paintings The Five Senses by Brueghel the Elder, and to the artists of the 17th century, according to the intentions of the American designer, who has also transferred this inspiration into high jewelry. An example? The white gold spider ring whose body is a large, sparkling blue topaz, surrounded by 92 black diamonds or the necklace with a black pearl and a bouquet of flowers modeled in rose gold, sapphires and blue topazes. On sale exclusively at Bergdorf Goodman in New York, prices range from $8,500 to $118,000.
