Lin Ruiyin and Afzal Imram: they are the two who founded a jewelry brand with a rather unusual name: State Property. More than publicly owned, however, the jewels created by the Singapore-based couple quickly become the property of design jewelery lovers. The secret of success lies, perhaps, in the combination of the different experiences of the founders, between jewelery and industrial design. Lin Ruiyin trained at Central St Martins in London. Afzal Imram, on the other hand, studied Industrial Design at the National University of Singapore, with personal works that have been exhibited in Milan and Paris, as well as in the Asian city.
By their very definition, the brand navigates between art, design, and traditional craftsmanship. Precious stones, enamel, refined lines, a certain allusion to the art deco style and innovative shapes are the aspects that most distinguish State Property. The jewels of the Asian brand are tuned to the tastes of the Western public: they are sold not only in Singapore, but also in the United States and the United Kingdom. And the Maison boasts the appreciation of women like Michelle Obama, Nicole Kidman and Lady Gaga.
The Impressions of David Morris
Born relatively recently, in 1962, the London-based jewelry David Morris immediately stood out for the quality and richness of its collections. In particular, the high jewelery collections often feature pieces of maharaja-like opulence. This is also the case for the Impressions high jewelery collection, presented at the Paris Couture Week. Rare and magnificent precious stones are the real inspiring motif of the collection.
As for the Monsoon necklace, which combines contrasting cuts and motifs to renew a classic collar design: a sketch from 1962 confirms its roots. The jewel also has adjustable closures, which allow you to transform it from a choker or into a sautoir necklace for the evening. The emeralds of the necklace are interspersed with white, shield-shaped, fancy-cut diamonds, specially cut for the design. With their clean-cut corners, diamonds are paired with the gentle curves of cabochon emerald drops, while tiny white gold hinges are hidden behind the gemstones to ensure perfect shape and flexibility.
The collection, however, also uses colored titanium for jewels with a less classic and more modern style. The Evergreen earrings, with 27 carats of emeralds, have almost neon reflections thanks to the green titanium setting, offset by white diamonds. The Tetras bracelet, on the other hand, uses turquoise and diamonds, along with a 10-carat blue Madagascar sapphire.
Green and the Greek sun in the Grass collection by Ileana Makri: gold and emeralds with a pinch of champagne diamonds ♦ ︎
The Greek islands, immersed in an intense blue of Mediterranean Sea, seem burned to the tourists who crowd their sunny beaches during the summer. But actually they are green the rest of the year. The summer sun and the green of the trees inspired jewelry designer Ileana Makri to design the Grass collection. The grass, in fact, gives shape to jewels, with long strands covered with emeralds, or in gold like those burned by the summer sun, with some sparkle of champagne diamonds, like the foam of the waves that break on the shoreline.
Ileana Makri, in fact, has a great passion for travel, but in the first place still remains the land where Western culture was born, Greece. After graduating in Business Administration, the designer chose to follow her true passion and studied jewelry design at the Gia (Gemological Institute of America in Santa Monica). It was a successful choice: from Athens, her jewelry was immediately sold by Barneys in New York. So many collections later, Ileana has won fans like Uma Thurman, Jennifer Lopez, Heidi Klum, Lenny Kravitz, Faith Hill, Rita Wilson, Ashley Olsen, Courtney Cox and Debra Messing.
The new Cartier crocodiles
An exceptional set of high jewelry signed by Cartier, with 14 Colombian emeralds ♦ ︎
A piece of jewelry that made history has inspired a new exceptional Cartier parure. This is a suite composed of necklace, ring and earrings inspired by the famous necklace made by Cartier in 1975 for the Mexican actress María Félix.
The high jewelry set has a set of 14 emeralds from Colombia.
The emeralds of the jewels, which reflect the shape of the crocodile, weigh a total of 46.45 carats. They are stones considered out of the norm, that is of exceptional beauty and uniformity. To the 14 large emeralds used, they are added with the shape of pearls, always of an intense green color. Also the sculptural aspect of the jewels is valuable, with the crocodile that seems ready to bite those who approach (but it will not happen). Not only that: by stretching the back part towards the tail, the pieces of the necklace can be wrapped around the neck, wrist or finger, or be suspended like a pair of dangling earrings. The legs of the animal, like its scales, have been specially designed to be comfortable even in contact with the skin.
This high jewelry crocodile is inspired, as mentioned above, in the necklace created in 1975 for María Félix.
It is a piece that is now part of the history of the Maison, in the Cartier Collection. The necklace consisted of two completely articulated crocodiles, one with emerald pavé and the other with yellow diamonds. In addition to gold, for this necklace we have used 1023 fancy bright brilliant-cut diamonds of 60.02ct, two cabochon emeralds (eyes), another 1060 emeralds, total weight of 66.86ct, two cabochon rubies (eyes) . Each crocodile is completely articulated and can be worn like a brooch. Lavinia Andorno