Michelle Ong Archives | gioiellis.com

The East-West in Michelle Ong’s Carnet

Published on June 2, 2023

Orecchini con diamanti, zaffiri e tormalina paraiba

Michelle Ong was named one of the 15 most influential women in Hong Kong. Promotes the art of Italian Renaissance. And she is also the designer of the refined Maison Carnet ♦

You don’t need to fly to Hong Kong to learn who is Michelle Ong. The designer founded Carnet together to Israeli Avi Nagar in 1985. Since then he has become a kind of Jar of East. So much so that the legendary Joel Arthur Rosenthal gave her compliments and has written for her the preface of a book by Vivienne Becker that collected the images of the work of the designer. His curiosity has produced a strange cross between Art Nouveau and Ming tradition. Actually the two terms simplify a lot of the complexity of the creativity of Michelle Ong. In reality, what matters of most it’s see the virtuosity to jewelry with great and precious stones. His pieces, not surprisingly, are appreciated by those who can and want to show off their fine jewelry, like the soprano Renee Fleming and Kate Winslet.

Orecchini con tanzanite, rubellite, tormalina, zaffiri e diamanti — Earrings with tanzanite, rubellite, tourmaline, sapphires and diamonds

On his style they were wasted many adjectives: stately, exuberant, expressive … But the truth is that with a few words don’t sum up a production so dense it is very difficult. And to say that Michelle Ong is self-taught. She started designing jewelry as a hobby. He loves perfectionism: even after reaching the success continues to follow closely the artisans who make her designs. “The materials we use are a means to an end,” she explained. The absence of a school behind her also has advantages: for example, the Hong Kong designer began using the titanium 17 years ago, in advance of the others. Here are some pieces of her production.

Spilla a forma di conchiglia in oro bianco 18 carati e diamanti — Shell-shaped brooch in 18K white gold and diamonds

Michelle Ong is also a refined art lover. She has been appointed president of the Marco Polo Society, a non-profit organization that promotes cultural exchanges between Italy, Hong Kong, Macao and mainland China. And in the city, her former British colony, she promoted Shaping the Human Body: Florentine Sculpture of the Italian Renaissance, an exhibition of ten key masterpieces of the period, at the University of Hong Kong.

Spilla a forma di farfalla con diamanti, rodolite — Butterfly-shaped brooch with diamonds, rhodolite

Orecchini a forma di foglie con diamanti colorati — Leaf-shaped earrings with colored diamonds

Spilla con diamante nero briolette, tormalina violacea briolette, 260 rubini e zaffiri rosa — Brooch with black briolette diamond, purplish briolette tourmaline, 260 rubies and pink sapphires

Collana con pendente di diamanti e smeraldi — Diamond and emerald pendant necklace

Il libro Carnet scritto da Vivienne Becker e edito da Thames&Hudson — The book Carnet written by Vivienne Becker and published by Thames&Hudson

Titanium jewelry: should you buy them?

Published on July 27, 2022

Campus

Titanium jewelry: they are the last frontier of jewelry. Beautiful, but also difficult to make. Should you buy them? ♦

Long live titanium, which has become synonymous with creative audacity and high technology in jewelry from a key element in the aerospace industry. To what does it owe its success? To lightness, first of all: with a weight less than a fifth compared to gold, it allows large volumes and the same comfort in wearing, especially for earrings and bracelets. Not only that: those who associate titanium only with its sad gray color of origin are wrong: this metal can be dyed in bright and full shades, from lawn green to lacquer red, to intense purple, to electric blue. Furthermore, whatever the color obtained through an oxidation process, unlike what is done with the galvanic process on silver or other metals, it is much more resistant: it does not fade with time and does not risk detachment. But this is not the only technical advantage: its extreme resistance allows you to use less metal than gold and platinum for the frames and to create very thick pavé.

Cindy Chao, Masterpiece 2019: due spille con diamanti e zaffiri blu su titanio

How to use it. Titanium is often used for thin and light metal architectures that serve as gem racks. It is no coincidence that most titanium jewels are literally covered with stones. One of the first to experiment with this material in jewelry was Jar (Joseph Arthur Rosenthal) in the late 1980s, and on the occasion of his retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, he created a collection of titanium and aluminum jewelery for sale inside the museum at affordable prices, from 2 to 5 thousand dollars. The fact that it is less expensive than gold must not be misleading, its processing requires great skill and technical knowledge, so it may happen that some jewels are even more expensive than their cousins made with more noble metals.

Wallace Chan, Cosmic Destiny. Spilla in titanio, diamanti e zaffiri

The admirers. Titanium jewels, therefore, are usually embellished with super precious stones, such as those of Wallace Chan, the jeweler from Hong Kong, or the Swiss Suzanne Syz, who made titanium his signature. And yet the sinuous tracery of Pomellato, which chose it to renew the Arabesque collection, or the delicate leaves of the Chopard bracelet with blue sapphires, the magnetic colors of the flower-shaped brooch by Giovanni Ferraris or the slight setting of the brooch by Michelle Ong, one of the few people who can boast a friendship with Jar. But there are also those who focus everything on design rather than precious stones, such as the Italian Maison Vhernier.

Orecchini in titanio verde e diamanti di Jacob & Co

Is it worth buying titanium jewelry? Titanium, like metal, costs less than gold, but is more difficult to use in jewelry. That said, the value of a titanium jewel is not determined by the cost of the raw material. If the gold of a jewel can be melted and resold, the same cannot be proposed for titanium. Therefore, when you buy a titanium jewel, you choose the design, the signature of the Maison, the gems that make up the piece. It is not said that a titanium jewel is more advantageous than a gold or platinum jewel: it depends on the stones that compose it.

Anello farfalla della collezione Titanium — Giovanni Ferraris, anello farfalla della collezione Titanium

How do you clean titanium? In addition to being light, titanium is very resistant: no problem for cleaning that can be performed with the usual mix of warm water, two drops of liquid soap and a toothbrush with soft bristles. If anything, the problem may be the structure of the jewel. Titanium, as we have explained, is often used to make jewels with a particularly imaginative shape, often together with many precious stones. You must be very careful, therefore, not to ruin the structure of the jewel with an excessively energetic cleaning. Monica Battistoni

Anello in oro, titanio, diamanti, ambra, granati, opale di fuoco, zaffiri — Lydia Courteille, anello in oro, titanio, diamanti, ambra, granati, opale di fuoco, zaffiri

Bracciale Calla in titanio e diamanti — Bracciale Calla di Vhernier in titanio e diamanti

Anello in titanio, diamanti e oro rosa — Syz Fireworks, anello in titanio blu, diamanti e oro rosa

Orecchini in titanio, diamanti e rubini — Fabio Salini, orecchini in titanio, diamanti e rubini

Collier a forma di piuma in titanio con diamanti e tormalina Paraiba — Moussaieff, collier a forma di piuma in titanio con diamanti e tormalina Paraiba

Jar, orecchini Geranium in titanio verde e rosso

Chopard, bracciale Red Carpet Collection 2012 in titanio con 2.417 zaffiri blu

Michelle Ong, spilla Forbidden Fruit in platino e titanio con una tormalina rosa centrale

Michele Della Valle, spilla Bow in titanio con pavé di diamanti incolori taglio brillante

Suzanne Syz, orecchini Tie that knot in titanio e oro bianco con pavé di diamanti e berilli verdi blu taglio briolette

Rahul Kadakia, the guru of the jewels

Published on October 2, 2015

news

Rahul Kadakia con una selezione di gioielli appartenuti a Elizabeth Taylor venduti in una speciale asta organizzata da Christie’s nel 2011, che ha messo a segno un record di 116 milioni di dollari

The numbers to eight digits achieved in jewelry auctions are no longer an exception: «A decade ago, you’d only hear these numbers in pictures sales; a Picasso sold for $10 million, a Van Gogh for $20 million», says Rahul Kadakia, international director of Christie’s jewelry department, in an interview with the American magazine Robb Report. The expert of the London-based company entered the orbit of the multinational luxury Kering, describes it as an moving and booming phenomenon . And the results of the auctions last year confirm this: the Blue Belle of Asia sapphire, a 392 carat stone, was sold in Geneva for 17 million 500 thousand dollars, a record; the Belle Époque brooch by Cartier made 17 million 900 thousand US dollars. And, again, a ruby necklace at auction in Hong Kong for 13 million dollars. Here the interview.