In September, Paris hosted the 26th Biennale des Antiquaires. For ten days the fair turned into a focal point for the most rare and exquisite collections produced by the world’s top jewelers, including Cartier, Boucheron, Piaget and Van Cleef & Arpels. Italian jewelry house Bvlgary and Asian jewelry designer Wallace Chan made their appearance for the first time in its history. The latter perhaps more than any other attracted the attention of collectors and experts from around the world. One of the most expensive artists, this famous Chinese jeweler presented an impressive collection, “The Path to Enlightenment - Art & Zen” inspired by love of nature and humanity. The artist’s highly delicate and skilful work transformed a plethora of most unusual and rare gemstones and diamonds into 50 masterpieces, including the incredibly beautiful necklaces, rings and brooches graced with scorpions and cicadas, as well as with the custodians of beauty – the butterflies from the jeweler’s Fluttery series. Butterflies for Wallace Chan mean special inspiration and special art. And, as it turns out, not only for him. To be precise, he is far from being alone under their spell.
The "natural" theme combining floral and animalistic motives originated in jewelry since ancient times and has always found many admirers. In old time, there were adornments of the so-called "totem" character based on "animal" connotations, which if put on made people feel deep relationship with nature and wildlife. From time to time this line in jewelry gave way to other fashion trends, but generally it never faded for a long time. At one time or another, natural motifs were back again taking the central stage. Today, modern jewelers have made animals, birds and insects their permanent companions, which are now their lucky charms and without them there is no way to go further.
But in the late 1980s - early 1990s, the ongoing campaign "to combat pollution and extinction of rare species of animals" inspired some jewelers to turn to nature again, after a short period of oblivion. There was a need to attract public attention to the problem in all possible ways and getting people to think about the richness and beauty of nature, the importance of preserving it for generations yet unborn. Worried about environmental conditions, Italian jewelry house Bvlgary released the Naturalia Collection inspired by marine themes. French jeweler Cartier joined the fight against the extermination of rhinos, which was conducted by the World Wildlife Fund, releasing a series of jewelry with these animals. In short, jewelers were enthusiastic in "incarnating the beauty of the world around us" in pendants, earrings, rings, bracelets and brooches making up their amazing collections.
The famous animalistic line “Dodo” created by Pomellato in 1995 began producing gold pendants in the shape of various animals, paying tribute to wildlife. The collection was named in honor of the Dodo bird once endemic to the island of Mauritius and later extinct due to fierce human persecution.
Many environmental organizations are still using the symbolic image of the bird thus contributing to protection of endangered species. Nature, with its flora and fauna, has justifiably given the highest grade of inspiration to jewelers. Jewelry manufacturers create undreamed-of masterpieces: beautiful clips in the shape of leaves and flowers, insects and animals, as well as gorgeous rings and pendants, not forgetting to decorate watches. Natural perfection marked its clear position on the jewelry horizon: above any fashion trends.
The special charm of animalistic jewelry is based on the symbolic interpretation of certain animal species. Women often choose pendants and rings in the form of snakes, cats, butterflies and turtles. The butterfly and dragonfly are a most romantic and sophisticated image, a symbol of lightness, beauty and femininity. The snake is a symbol of health, the cat – that of luck, the owl means wisdom, while the hedgehog brings happiness.
The bear is a universal symbol of life and light, the source of joyful emotions, according to Caroline Scheufele, Artistic Director of Chopard. The bear was put in the center of Animal World Bears Collection Rings 2012, a series of rings, which is a continuation of the famous Chopard “zoo” - Animal World.
In the jewelry business, there are many techniques of animal image reproduction. An animal can be presented in detail as a miniature sculpture, or a schematic view similar to the outline or silhouette. To maximize resemblance with the original is a difficult task and not every designer is able to do it. Even creating a simple silhouette, however using hard materials like gold or precious stones, requires special skills. Maybe that's why making jewelry with animals is still the prerogative of famous jewelry houses.
According to Caroline Scheufele, the Chopard jewelers, while making the Animal World Collection wanted their animals seem as natural as possible, so that even the expression of their tiny muzzles was to be identical to the original, which was not at all easy - for instance, to reproduce such a detail as the animal skin you need to find the right combination of precious stones and it’s a very hard work.
Such items as earrings in the shape of animals are today made in most cases as a silhouette. This technique is considered to be one of the most simple and complies with one important condition - earrings, unlike any other accessory, must be light for easy wear.
The technique of inlaying animal-shaped jewelry with precious stones brings the most luxurious end result, but it is the most complicated. All the stones should not only be attached securely, but they must be secured in a right order to best demonstrate the play of light.
Van Cleef & Arpels using their famous “mystery setting” - the technique of "invisible mount" (in which precious stones are not inserted in their separate seats, but instead are strung one after another on utterly thin gold or platinum “rails”) - created a series of ‘brilliant’ collections with rings in the shape of birds or clips in the shape of flowers and butterflies. Van Cleef & Arpels’ jewelers are inspired by every most delicate and beautiful thing in nature. The butterfly, which appears to be the jeweler’s top Muse, is prominent in such collections as Butterflies, Lacquered Butterflies and Alhambra. Van Cleef & Arpels’ Dragonfly Fairy clip made of rubies, emeralds, white and pink diamonds and mounted in platinum is considered the most outstanding jewelry piece produced by this jewelry house.
Cartier also has a talisman from the world of nature. The company’s invariable symbol is a graceful panther. The famous jeweler’s symbolic collection, Panthère de Cartier, is constantly upended. The platinum panther brooch with diamond and sapphire spots on the skin, which leans on a huge sapphire cabochon of 152.35 carats in size, is the most famous creation of the jewelry house.
A series of rings picturing zebras, elephants, monkeys, giraffes and camels joined the ranks of the exclusive animalistic collection, Bestiary, designed by French jeweler Boucheron. The most coveted critter in this collection is the chameleon, the possession of all species of which is considered to be the top regal splendor.
Well, designer jewelry shaped to resemble wildlife inhabitants are at the peak of popularity and, no doubt, are in demand by a considerable number of animal lovers. Prices for these adornments reaching four to five digit figures in US dollars are of course quite high, but sometimes cannot stop even the hipped middle class.
However, these figures will pale in comparison with those planked down by some wealthy animal lovers for their pets - dogs and cats.
Today, some famous jewelry houses are already busy creating rings, earrings, bracelets, lockets and necklaces for dogs that are sold in specialty dog boutiques.
The Gucci 2012 Collection, for example, is designed not only for the rich, but also for their pets, and includes pendants for dog collars and also luxury dog collars and leashes bearing precious inclusions.
By the way, the world’s most expensive necklace-collar, Amour-Amour, manufactured by I Love Dogs Diamonds is graced with 1,657 diamonds weighing 52 carats and is valued at an incredible $3.2 million.
Expensive collars, muzzles and leashes with diamonds are most often created for miniature dogs, such as those carried everywhere as accessories by their famous owners, Hollywood stars, sedate society ladies and young socialites. It is this category of potentially lucrative buyers that makes jewelers focus their efforts on them. And those, who have not yet felt the opportunities in this segment of the jewelry market, should better not drag their feet.
Veronica Novoselova, Rough&Polished correspondent in Italy
