Esplanade gem: Irene Lummertz expands jewelry space - Palm Beach Daily News
When Brazilian jewelry designer Irene Lummertz bills her pieces as natural, handmade, one-of-a-kind gems, she’s not kidding.
Lummertz oversees the entire production process, from the sketch of the design to the finished piece. She visits the mines where gemstones, such as citrine, aquamarine and topaz, are found.
Lummertz has had small shops in Palm Beach since 2008. She opened her first Worth Avenue boutique on the second floor of Via Encantada and two years later moved to the first floor.
This month, she opened a much larger store on the second floor of The Esplanade. She said she wanted a spot near other well-known brands where she could display her colorful, one-of-a-kind pieces.
Although the island has numerous jewelry stores, Lummertz said her line stands apart for its authenticity.
“My pieces go through a long design and creation process,” she said. “My jewelry is created to speak to the client individually.”
Lummertz said she first sketches the design and sends it to an atelier in Brazil where workers begin creating the settings using 18-karat yellow, white or rose gold. She then schedules a trip to visit the Brazilian mines.
“Dynamite is inserted into a vein of rocks, and we stand behind a stone wall while they blast it,” Lummertz said. “Rocks go flying everywhere, and the workmen begin sifting through the rubble to identify what might be minerals. They can see tiny sparkles on rocks that might bare a future gemstone.”
Lummertz purchases a dozen or more pieces of rock that contain the “rough” product. The rocks are transported to shops where people sit at workbenches with magnifying glasses and chip and cut around the gemstone.
“The pieces are soldered, sawed, carved and shaped without the use of mass-produced manufacturing machinery,” she said. “A machine can crank out hundreds of units per hour while an individual can only make a finite quantity or fraction of the number of pieces in the same amount of time. As a designer myself, I know I often I spend weeks designing a single piece of jewelry for a client.”
Lummertz said she prides herself in not buying finished, wholesale jewelry or using chemicals or heat to enhance the color of the stones.
‘Truly organic’
“My jewelry is truly organic — never heated or treated,” she said. “I have one-of-a-kind jewelry that you’ll never see in another store. You also get a huge amount of work and scarcity for your money.”
Lummertz said one of her most rewarding acts is making clients custom pieces from their family heirlooms.
“The look on their face when they open the box with their family-heirloom stones in a new setting that they designed is beyond description,” she said. “It is an extremely emotional experience and one of the most rewarding parts of my business.”
Lummertz’s jewelry ranges from $180 for a small gemstone charm to $30,000 for a larger piece. Many items are in the $3,000 to $5,000 range, she said. All are set in 18-karat gold.
Lummertz, who splits her time between Washington, D.C.; Palm Beach and Brazil, said her favorite gemstone is paraiba tourmaline.
“The electric ‘Windex’ blue color, its composition and rarity fascinates me,” she said. “This stone is only found in two places in the world: Paraiba, Brazil where I am from, and Mozambique, Africa.”
Yvonne Jones, director of property management for The Esplanade, said Lummertz is a welcome addition to luxury shopping center.
“Her jewelry is very special, large-style stones from Brazil, all with a unique design and setting,” she said. “Palm Beach has the sophisticated clientele that really appreciates her designs that use unique stones and gems.”
