Tefaf New York Fall, a fair of precious and antiques, will be online this year due to the health emergency (1-4 November, with a preview on 30-31 October, 300 exhibitors). At Tefaf, in addition to the rookies we wrote about here, there are prominent jewelers, such as Hong Kong artist-designer Wallace Chan, Hemmerle, Cindy Chao, Taffin, Otto Jakob, as well as jewelry from past designers such as Suzanne Belperron.
European jewelry is represented by Hemmerle, a great Maison in Munich that combines the avant-garde with luxury. Refined shapes, surprising combinations of materials are the ingredients of Hemmerle’s jewels. Among the jewels present at Tefaf online, there is a pendant with tassel composed of small natural pearls suspended from a base of silver and white gold, paved with diamonds. The cord is made from smoky quartz beads knitted using a nearly extinct Austrian technique revived from the early 19th century of woven precious gem beads. Each bead is cut and carved and pierced by hand. Otto Jakob also comes from Germany, specializing in small jewels with floral or animal themes. He often uses gold and enamel together with colored stones.
French, but a long time resident in New York, James Taffin de Givenchy is another refined jeweler present in the Tefaf review. It is difficult to frame Taffin’s jewels and his Maison in a single style: they are truly out of the ordinary. Like the necklace with large tanzanite accompanied by black pebbles on platinum and rose gold. Really unique.
From the East, Hong Kong, comes another jeweler-artist always present at Tefaf: Wallace Chan, who presents a brooch in the shape of a butterfly. It is a jewel that highlights Wallace Chan’s fantasy and superfine technique, which uses titanium to maintain the lightness of the jewel. For example, the gemstones on the butterfly’s wings are angled to convey a sense of life and movement. The butterfly also houses an 8.24-carat imperial topaz used for the body of the butterfly, with two emeralds at the end. The brooch also includes rubies, yellow diamonds, orange sapphires, tsavorite garnets and set diamonds. Also from Hong Kong, Cindy Chao (who was born in Taiwan) brings her pieces of high jewelry.For example, the Black Label Masterpiece III Green Plumule 2020 brooch, made with 487 emeralds (17 of these from Colombia) different shapes and sizes, for a total of 172.58 carats.
