The luxury Swiss jewelry house Chopard has unveiled a spectacular new high jewelry necklace featuring a rather spectacular 34.63 ct. Mozambique paraiba tourmaline as its centerpiece.
Like a sparkling triangular swimming pool in miniature, the paraiba tourmaline was acquired by the maison two years ago, after Chopard artistic director and copresident Caroline Scheufele was impressed by its size and gorgeous crystal clear blue-green color. From there, she and her team spent considerable time dreaming up a design that would offer an equally magnificent showcase for the important gem and decided its place was in the Precious Lace collection.
The series is defined by its light, airy, and very intricate lacework patterns and filigree articulated in Fairmined-certified ethical white gold and titanium. The necklace puts those design codes on display to dramatic, haute joaillerie effect, incorporating pear-shape paraiba tourmaline accent stones among bright white diamonds to create a kind of artfully interconnected archipelago bathed in luminous Mediterranean-blue waters.
The diamond-centric Precious Lace collection has incorporated rubies, sapphires, and emeralds in the past, but the collection has never welcomed a large—and exceedingly rare—paraiba until now.
“It’s a high jewelry design that is somehow classic but with a twist, and a very special stone,” says Scheufele. “You have a paraiba, and to me, this turquoise-greenish color is vacation. It’s the color of the sea in Sardinia. I think it’s a very undiscovered stone, the most expensive in the family of the tourmalines and very, very rare.”
The jewel is currently available via private sale through Sotheby’s.
Top: Precious Lace necklace in 18k white Fairmined gold and titanium with 34.63 ct. paraiba tourmaline centerpiece, 35.77 cts. t.w. paraiba tourmaline accent stones, and 43.38 cts. t.w. diamonds, price on request; Chopard
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