Just Brilliant: Fernando Jorge’s New Collection Bows at Barneys

Coupled with his smoldering smile, Fernando Jorge’s work tends to have a dazzling effect in general, but after receiving the “Best Diamonds Over 20k” award at the Couture Design Awards in Las Vegas, the Brazilian-born, London-based designer is really on fire.

Now, the rising star’s winning Disco Earrings have arrived at Barneys New York, along with 13 other diamond-laden pieces that comprise the aptly named Brilliant Collection. “I wanted to use diamonds—the most familiar stone in jewelry—in a new and interesting way,” says Jorge, who chose to work with brilliant-cut stones because they’re the most light-refractive. The goal, he says, was to create a collection that could naturally, effortlessly illuminate the woman who wears them.

He kept the designs “feminine and timeless” rather than “cool and edgy.” And while many of the pieces have a sensual, undulating quality, he was primarily focused on the gradation of diamond sizes, placing the stones in airy, lightweight metal structures to create a “graphic swoosh of light.”

“The movement effect was a happy accident,” says Jorge, of the interplay of geometry, negative space, and the shimmering, dancing effect of brilliant-cut diamonds set in polished gold.

A snapshot of the collection is below.

“There is a language here that I definitely want to grow,” he says.

Talk to us, Fernando Jorge—tell us all about it.
Disco Earrings with 12.26 cts. tw. diamonds in 18k yellow gold, $54,000