As the barman rustles up a Manhattan and a Mai Tai and the band strikes up a tune, the jewellery world is holding out an invitation to party with its new celebration-themed collections. Chaumet invites us to nights at the opera and Vienna’s famous winter balls with its Est une Fête high-jewellery collection, while Bulgari’s playful Festa high-jewellery line is all about merrymaking.
Children’s parties, dances and festivals inspire jewels shaped like balloons, cakes and the famous Italian gelati, deliciously re-imagined in precious stones. The Torta al Pistacchio and Torta alla Ciliegia rings in emerald and chalcedony, or ruby, coral and agate, look particularly tasty.
From all the sparkling decorations, however, one top trend is emerging, or should I say re-emerging, for cocktail rings are making a comeback just in time for the festive season.
Solange Azagury-Partridge’s vivacious super-sized Poptail rings are the perfect style for party animals, as are Piaget’s zesty, bright Limelight Cocktail Party rings. Who could resist sipping a fiery whisky-inspired citrine on the rocks, or a minty fresh tourmaline mojito with a twist of lemon citrine on the side? Each of the Piaget rings is inspired by a cocktail and comes with an invitation to match your ring to your favourite tipple.
Solange Azagury-Partridge’s rings are outrageous and fun. Precious gems are raised on stacks of colourful layers of enamel, using a mishmash of techniques and sculpted into memorable shapes, bound to break the ice between strangers at a gathering. There are more conversation pieces at Cartier and Annoushka, both of which will leave fellow guests speculating on what the rings depict.
The cocktail rings are bobbly — rather than prickly — textured rose gold, with diamonds and a pair of spinel flowers, or a thicket of emerald and carnelian beads. Similarly textured is Anil Arjandas’s black rose-cut diamond Pumped ring in which the diamonds are set upside down to create a pleasing texture. Often used in antique jewellery, the rose cut in this design looks pretty avant garde.
Meanwhile, Annoushka has launched a collection of jewels called Touch Wood, for those with a superstitious nature. Each ring has a piece of ebony on the inside, next to your skin, for good luck, while the trio of playful diamond-set beads is based on the Russian onion-dome architecture she remembers from her frequent visits to Russia as a child.
Dutch jeweller and sculptor Bibi van der Velden’s imaginative designs will kick start a discussion. The Big Galaxy Opal ring, a component of her Galaxy collection, features Tahitian pearls orbiting planets set on gemstones.
About 18 months ago, Bibi van der Velden launched auverture.com, a carefully curated e-commerce site for independent fine jewellery designers such as herself, including Venyx by Eugenie Niarchos, Alice Cicolini and Fernando Jorge.
Among designers on the site is French jeweller Lydia Courteille, a former antiques dealer, renowned for her love of bold colours and her fantastical baroque designs following themes like the Sahara and Topkapi.
Her latest offering is Fruits of My Passion, with tempting gems such as sapphires, rubellites and tsavorites, which are imagined as tropical fruits in the mythical Garden of Eden, with a snake peeking between the yellow sapphire bananas.
Dior Joaillerie’s Milly Carnivora flower ring in diamonds, spinels and lacquer might similarly have emerged from this Eden and also the pink tourmaline Butterfly ring designed by Notting Hill-based jeweller Ming Lampson. Twinkling in the party lights, these dazzling, seductive gems are all an invitation to converse and have a great evening.
