Emeralds and Other Stories
Most people are only used to seeing faceted gems in jewelry design, especially if they are precious stones like emeralds. It is this traditional view of gemstones that has made me want to step out of the box and start working with cabochon cut gems like the beautiful emeralds below...
As I try to be innovative in my jewelry designs, I am always seeking for new ways and new materials to make my jewels always stand out from the crowd. Taking a traditionally faceted stone like the emerald and giving a rounded and unusual shape is my way to say that even though we respect the history of jewelry and their design, there are other ways for gems to be beautiful and valuable, and for the jewelry made with them to be avant guard while keeping with the canons of jewelry design.
In this gorgeous set I wanted to take on a modern vintage feel, much like what is so popular right now in chic cities like London, New York or Paris. I also wanted the pieces to not be trendy, but instead have a timeless appeal. In order to achieve everything I had set out to achieve, I had to do a little compromising, however I did not compromise one thing, the choice of emerald as the main gem.
The emerald is the perfect gem to transcend everything. With is beautiful green hues, it really does. It is unquestionably one of the best gems to work with because not only is it beautiful, it is also strong and resilient. But it's beauty does not just rest on its geological attributes, this gem is also very, very wearable, looking amazingly well on women of every skin tone, and especially great on those with green or hazel eyes.
The shape of these pieces was inspired directly by the cabochon cut gems. With their rounded shape, they are so divine to the touch that I didn't want anything to ruin this experience. In order to keep in with the voluptuous theme, I selected sliced diamonds to contrast both the texture and the shape. The sliced diamonds, like the emeralds have the luminous effect when hit by the light, so they look like an extension of each other as if the gorgeous handmade black and white 18kt gold settings don't even exist.
The center of the ring and the earrings is the only place where I went with a contrasting shape, and selected square cut white diamonds to finish off the pieces. There needed to be a balance between the rounded gems and diamond curlycues, and these square cut diamonds really did the trick without ruining the cloud-like fantasy that each of these pieces of jewelry creates.
Love Always
Dani K
CONVERSATION