When the red carpet jeweler Martin Katz designs high jewelry featuring paraiba tourmaline, one of his favorite gems, it only makes sense to use a white metal and, in most cases, the choice is clear.
“I prefer to use platinum, especially for rings,” Katz tells JCK during a recent visit to his penthouse salon in Beverly Hills. “I think platinum is just a more elegant metal. It’s a more elegant word. People tend to think of it as elevated, even though gold is much more expensive than platinum now.”
Katz’s commitment to setting paraibas in platinum is on view for the world to see in the pages of a new coffee table book, Paraiba: The Legacy of a Color, written by gem consultant Kevin Ferreira and jewelry influencer Katerina Perez.
The book, which Ferreira says is intended to generate awareness of the gem, includes two meticulously handcrafted one-of-a-kind platinum pieces that Katz designed for collectors: a Parasol ring centered on a round 1.6 ct. Brazilian paraiba and a five-row bracelet loaded with more than 120 carats of paraiba cabochons.
The pieces are just two of the myriad platinum jewels showcased in the book, which traces the history of paraiba tourmaline—both the Brazilian and African varieties—and describes the influence the gem’s “mesmerizing, iconic blue” hue has had on designers.
In a foreword to the book, Stanislas de Quercize, the former CEO of Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, sums up paraiba’s legacy using a metaphor familiar to lovers of the precious white metal: “Like a work of art, the hues of this dazzling gem invite us into the depths of human connection, into the resilient bonds of love and friendship that no storm or tempest can sever,” he writes. Little wonder that as settings go, only pure, enduring platinum will do.
Top: Paraiba Parasol ring in platinum with 1.6 ct. Brazilian Paraiba tourmaline accented with 1.6 cts. t.w. round paraibas and 1.8 cts. t.w. trapezoid diamonds and micro-set with 168 blue sapphires and 238 diamonds, price on request
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