Hip To Be Square: Atelier Wolff Designs In Cubes

By Brittany Siminitz | February 25, 2022

When you look at any one of the offerings from the San Francisco–based Atelier Wolff, you get the feeling it’s more than a simple piece of jewelry.

The same can be said for many designers, but Sharona Wolff infuses her creations with a wealth of past experiences.

After studying cartography and geomatics, Wolff went on to work in the fields of computer-aided design, architecture, and engineering. But it was when an unplanned job relocation presented itself that she decided to pivot to what felt right—jewelry-making.

Wolff grew up with an environmentalist mother and a geologist father specializing in gold and base metal exploration, so jewelry didn’t feel far from familiar. She went on to study jewelry-making under a master goldsmith in Florence, Italy, learning old-world techniques and cultivating an appreciation for designs more interesting than simple modern sparkles.

Atelier Wolff garnet and tourmaline cubic — *Cubic Spheres earrings in 22k yellow gold with tsavorite garnets and rubellite tourmaline cubes, $5,000*

Atelier Wolff amethyst tourmaline cube earrings — *Cubic stud earrings in 22k yellow gold with amethysts and pink tourmaline cubes, $2,800*

Case in point: the pieces you see here. With cubic cuts of beautifully colored gemstones, each design could probably skate by on that feature alone.

But they don’t.

Atelier Wolff emerald green tourmaline cubic earrings — *Etruscan Cubic Eyes earrings in 22k yellow gold with emerald and green tourmaline cubes, $5,850*

In the goldwork, you see Wolff’s education and appreciation for old-world craftsmanship. And you can see how thoughtfully the designer worked to create a shared home for it with contemporary angles—literally, angles.

Atelier Wolff cubic amulet — *Cubic amulet in 22k yellow gold with Cambodian blue zircon and rock crystal cube, $3,400*

“Having a background as a cartographer, geometry does feature in my work, often as spheres, cones, and arcs, but more recently I’ve been exploring angles,” says Wolff. “So when I saw a beautiful bicolor tourmaline cube cut by one of my lapidaries, all my creative cells suddenly lit up: Here were color and angles galore, so I just had to experiment with them. It seemed to me to be a natural fit to combine angles and spheres with the ancient technique of granulation—contemporary sharp angles with ancient, softer spheres and rich buttery 22k gold and, above all, color. I think it works and am excited to explore further the meeting of ancient techniques and the contemporary or the futuristic.”

Atelier Wolff lavender spinel tourmaline cubic earrings — *Etruscan Cubic Eyes earrings in 22k yellow gold with lavender spinel and bicolor tourmaline cubes, $4,800*

And the colors—ah, the colors! Such beautifully juicy, luscious, divine colors. “The color combinations have to be just right, the shapes have to be just right, otherwise instead of being elevated to today’s esthetic, it becomes a mishmash of strange parts and simply looks odd,” Wolff says. “Therein lies the challenge, and it’s really exciting!”

Atelier Wolff pink tourmaline mini cubic studs — *Mini Cubic studs in 18k yellow gold with pink tourmaline cubes, $1,500*

Atelier Wolff cubic studs agate tourmaline — *Cubic stud earrings in 22k yellow gold with agate and pastel tourmaline cubes, $3,000*

“The pieces are one of a kind within each style, as it’s not always easy to find suitable rough gem material to cut into cubes, so I work with the lapidary to understand how they source the rough and cut it, and they understand what I make out of the cubes and what my color preferences and size ranges are. It is a relationship, and they are like family to work with. It’s always exciting opening the parcel that comes from them. Occasionally, I will buy tourmaline rough myself, when I find some especially unusual crystals, and have them cut locally. That has been a learning curve, as it’s not an easy process to cut a cube, nor is it a simple process to pick rough that will cut into great-looking cubes, and I’ve made a few less-than-stellar picks! Perhaps it is better to recognize one’s limitations and leave some things to others!”

Atelier Wolff cubic blue zircon pink tourmaline earrings — *Etruscan Cubic Eyes earrings in 22k yellow gold with Cambodian blue zircon and pink tourmaline cubes, $6,000*

That last part may be good advice, but from this angle, it appears that Atelier Wolff’s limits as they pertain to creating remarkable, beautiful jewelry are absolutely nonexistent.

Top: Spring Blossom earrings in 22k yellow gold with tsavorite garnets, pink tourmaline, and pink and green tourmaline cubes, $5,100