Editor’s Note
This article explores the meticulous artistry behind high jewellery, drawing parallels between historical craftsmanship and contemporary design. It highlights how modern creators, like their predecessors, find inspiration in nature—specifically in the study of birds—to craft exceptional pieces. The focus on legacy gemstones, such as Tiffany’s tanzanite, underscores a blend of tradition and innovation in today’s luxury market.
Like the great Schlumberger, Verdeille took pains to carefully study birds, their stances, feathers and wing structures to reproduce their animated forms in jewellery.
Two truly exceptional high jewellery suites emerged. The first is crafted around coloured stones and, in particular, tanzanites – a Tiffany “legacy gemstone” that the jeweller introduced in 1968.
The other high jewellery set stars the turquoise – a gemstone that’s very much part of Tiffany’s design heritage and which Schlumberger also used in high jewellery with surprising contrasts.
The heart of the turquoise suite is a magnificent lariat necklace of turquoise beads, interspersed with gold and diamond feathers. A diamond bird appears to grasp strands of cabochon turquoise, culminating in an impressive turquoise drop. The set also comes with a pendant, brooch and ring.
Incidentally, the bluish green hue of turquoise is said to have inspired the jeweller’s founder, Charles Lewis Tiffany, to create the house’s iconic robin’s egg Blue Box.
Sophistication and artistry that breaks new ground are what the Bird on a Rock by Tiffany fine jewellery collection is all about. While both debut lines celebrate nature’s uniqueness and asymmetry – qualities that deeply inspired Schlumberger – they feature two distinct takes on the legendary avian.
In one, bird motifs in their naturalistic forms fly alone or in pairs. Beautifully crafted as if they are high jewellery pieces, they feature fine, intricate texturing and multiple setting techniques – up to three in a single piece – so an elaborate play of light can enliven and further invigorate the animals.
Meanwhile, the abstract approach taken for the other line – Bird on a Rock by Tiffany Wings – distils the wing motif into a reflection of the quintessential nature of flying. Here, the graceful movement and intricate layering of plumage are captured in sculpted, symbolic forms that twist and unfurl – a true feat of technical precision and artistry.
Further, select designs feature diamonds in hidden settings, as if they are afloat in the air. The pieces are also designed to stack, with the scalloped edges of one perfectly nestling against the feather-shaped silhouette of the other.