From a single anecdote to a real-time story, the world of jewelry is filled with pieces of information that may not change your life, but surely add onto your jewelry culture.
The original Ballerina design that Van Cleef & Arpels (VC&A) has developed in many ways from high jewelry brooches to watch dials or pendants has in fact been created by John Rubel. Back in 1915, the Rubel brothers had just arrived from Hungary to install a jewelry workshop near the iconic Place Vendôme. VC&A rapidly became their client consequently handling part of their production. By 1939, the French jewelry house wanted to conquer the American market. Altogether, the Rubel brothers moved to New York. One year later, John Rubel was enjoying a night out in a Latino bar of the Lower East side of Manhattan. He scribbled the feminine silhouette of a flamenco dancer on the corner paper cloth of his table. He showed it the next day to the head designer of VC&A at the time, Maurice Duvallet, who immediately adopted the design. Today at auctions, Vintage ballerinas can be found under the name of either John Rubel or Van Cleef and Arpels The only noticeable difference between the two is by whom was it signed and when !
The Italian jewelry Pomelatto famous for its cabochon colored stones set on its iconic Nudo Collection rings opened its workshop in the center of Milan in an old chocolate factory of the 1950’s. Six hundreds people including one hundred artisans work on a daily basis, carving and setting each an every stone made on demand.
The Cocktail ring designation was born during the Prohibition period in the U.S. in the 1920’s where illegal bars were held underground. Only women with connections could get in, if two rules were to be respected. N°1 – you had to hold a drink of alcohol in your hands at all times. N°2- You had to make sure people would notice that you had access to illegal beverages. For the matter, women started adorning their fingers with super-sized rings mounted with XXL stones to drag attention.
If Jacquie Aiche takes her inspiration in the late- Elisabeth Taylor, Eugenia Bruni, who is the artistic director of her father’s eponymous brand Pasquale Bruni, takes her into Jennifer Lopez. The movie legend died too soon to compete with JLo’s 62.5 millions of followers on Instagram. Between the two, it would have been a friendly battle. In regards to the two jewelry designers, it would be fair to say that both have earned their well-deserved reputation in keeping their creativity sticking to their beliefs and what they valued most.
Lorenz Baumer is not just the ex-artistic director of the Louis Vuitton Jewelry department. He is American by birth from a French mother and a German father ; who traveled the world before settling in Paris in 1981 at the age of 16 years old. This trained engineer is a surf addict (spending his free time between Hawaï and Biarritz) as much as he is a food lover … two worlds from which he takes all of his inspiration to create his dazzling jewelry collections.
