It’s been nearly a week since I returned home from Las Vegas, but I’m still licking my wounds. Between the breakfasts, dinners, seminars, jewelry appointments, panel discussions, serendipitous run-ins, and late-night parties, jewelry market week always takes the stuffing out of me. That said, I never lack energy to shop—vicariously. Here are five pieces I’m coveting from last week’s JCK Las Vegas and Luxury shows.
Eleuterio Couture earrings
My favorite part of market week is the discovery process. Stumbling upon a new designer and hearing his or her story for the first time always brings a little rush. When I wandered through the LUXE Intelligence emporium at Elite Enclave, I had that feeling when I stopped at the Eleuterio showcase. The Portuguese jeweler, based in the northwestern city of Braga, was founded in 1925 by Eleuterio Antunes, a specialist in the art of filigree, an ancestral technique that centers on the use of fine gold wire. Today, the third generation of the Antunes family, Luís Antunes and Rosa Antunes, carry on the family tradition of working thin gold filaments into frames of diamond pavé. I love the fan-shape silhouette of these yellow gold Couture earrings with black ruthenium and the way they nod to the Art Deco movement without feeling derivative.
Courtesy Eleuterio
Couture earrings in yellow gold and black ruthenium filigree with 1.72 cts. t.w. diamonds; $9,300
Vincent Peach Megalodon necklace
Nashville, Tenn.–based Vincent Peach is like royalty in the pearl business. His father, James Peach, is a, well, giant in the American pearling industry—on par with American Pearl Co.’s John Latendresse—and he passed his love for pearls on to his son. Vincent’s fashionable collection is rich in Tahitian pearls—the designer says he drills more than 60,000 every year—but it also features trendy materials such as wood, turquoise, and prehistoric megalodon teeth, in bohemian styles that are nothing short of groovy.
Courtesy Vincent Peach
Prehistoric megalodon pendant on cord of soft deer skin with 1.3 cts. t.w. pavé diamonds in sterling silver; $2,999
Zorab Octopus ring
In Vegas, jewelry featuring critters—from butterflies to turtles to birds—was a running theme. Some of the most spectacular contributions to the jeweled bestiary came from Zorab, the San Diego–based atelier whose ornate, one-of-a-kind creations, such as the crazy parrot necklace it debuted at the show, boast a beguiling degree of verisimilitude. This sweet little black-and-white diamond Octopus ring is among the more discreet of Zorab’s novelties, and all I want to do is wrap it around my finger.
Courtesy Zorab Atelier de Creation
Octopus ring in 18k rose gold with black and white diamonds
Gabriel & Co. Kaslique necklace
Anyone who knows me well knows that I am a travel fiend, and that every year, I find a new travel obsession. This year, it’s all about Beirut. I’ve always wanted to go to the Paris of the Middle East—its image as a louche and progressive paradise on the Mediterranean has always appealed to me. Plus, the jewelry scene is not to be believed! For now, I’ll have to settle with a vicarious journey made possible by Gabriel & Co., whose owners, Beirut-born brothers Jack and Dominick Gabriel, channel their hometown in the stylish Kaslique collection, named after a neighborhood the brand’s style director, Hal Rubenstein, describes as “the Soho of Beirut—young, fresh, and dynamic.”
Courtesy Gabriel & Co.
Kaslique necklace in 14k yellow gold with 0.54 ct. t.w. diamonds; $1,330
Sutra earrings
Sutra works hard in Vegas. The brand maintains a presence at both the Luxury show and at Couture. I shared a limo ride from the latter back to Mandalay Bay one afternoon with designer and co-owner Arpita Navlakha (check out JCK’s profile of Sutra in our October 2013 issue), and she said that she welcomes the brand’s growing base of international buyers at Luxury. I covet practically everything in the brand’s cases, which overflow with juicy, lustrous gems. The fan-shape earrings below first came on my radar at the Baselworld fair in March—and I still can’t get enough of that sexy silhouette.
Courtesy Sutra
Earrings in 18k black gold with 1 ct. t.w. diamonds, 9 cts. t.w. sapphires, and 14 cts. t.w. tanzanite; $12,000
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