Who doesn’t love a trapiche emerald?
Its glorious green echoes the evergreen hues that surround us as we enter the homestretch of the holiday season.
That’s what makes this Alice Cicolini custom ring the ideal jewel for the final Britt’s Pick of 2023: It’s got holiday written all over it—in both senses of the word. The piece covers holiday as a noun with its cheery, verdant presence. For the verb, “to holiday,” the ring flaunts a look worthy of the tropics, with exotic flowers and a zigzagging chevron design for additional eye candy.
“It’s a bespoke piece for a client in New York who had purchased the trapiche emerald and had always been a little nervous of having it set until we met and she decided that working with me was what she wanted for the stone,” Cicolini tells JCK. “It’s quite a large slice—I’ve only ever come across the trapiche much smaller than this—and also can be fragile, as of course all emeralds are. So it required special attention.”
The client was inspired by some of Cicolini’s earlier pieces, resulting in a mishmash from Cicolini’s design arsenal that creates something entirely new. “The boulle shape was created for the client as a hybrid between the Chevron With Flowers and a style I was making at the time in the Jaipur collection,” Cicolini says. “I had been inspired by both Chinese and Georgian textiles, and the idea of flowers falling across geometric structure, as well as the pattern behind, and wanted to re-create this without having gold lines separating the background and foreground. My London-based enameler developed this technique with me, something that can only be realized using lacquer enamel.”
While the ring was custom-made, other styles utilizing elements like these are available from the London-based designer, as is a collection of jewels in collaboration with Muzo emeralds.
Top: Custom ring in 14k yellow gold and lacquer with trapiche emerald, price on request; Alice Cicolini
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