Jewelry

Booking Time To Read Up On Jewelry - Forbes

Four new books will be out in time for spring jewelry reading. Whether you prefer masterful modern day design talents or the history of jewelry, these four books will offer educational tools, lively anecdotes, inspiring photography and pieces to desire and covet. They also make great gifts for Mother’s Day for any woman in your life who is a jewelry enthusiast.

Mention Michelle Ong and her 25-year-old boutique jewelry house Carnet to many jewelry aficionados and they will immediately recognize her mastery over naturalistic forms such as the delicacy of dragonflies or the intricacy of lace as she spins into hand-wrought jewelry. Her flowers evoke lifelike petals and from dragons to seashells, all of her jewelry is a wearable work of art, meticulously crafted and set with the perfect vibrant gemstones. But most recently those in the jewelry know and those who are just starting to collect and covet rare pieces will have heard her name affiliated with the film, Crazy Rich Asians.

The jewelry house of Carnet was mentioned in the book of the same name and the director of the film approach Michelle Ong for jewelry for the main female leads in the film, which helped to develop their characters. Costume designer Mary E. Vogt  worked with Ong to choose bespoke statement pieces such as a  jade and diamond brooch, white and fancy intense yellow diamond floral brooch set in platinum and 18K yellow gold, a brooch pendant with a central yellow sapphire and intense yellow, orange and white diamonds in platinum and 18K white gold, worn on a white and yellow 18K gold diamond chain. There is also a jade and diamond brooch that Yeoh wears.

And coming on the heels of the film is a book, Carnet By Michelle Ong (Thames & Hudson, Pub Date: June 11, 2019.  The book is written by Vivienne Becker, an award-winning jewelry writer, historian, and author of many historical jewelry books with a surprising and very unexpected  foreword by anyone who knows anything about Joel Arthur Rosenthal (JAR) who rarely speaks or allows interviews about his own designs, works with his handpicked clients and is elusive to all outside of his chosen close-knit group. Michelle Ong is part of his world and a long-time friend whose work he admires and about which he writes eloquently.

The photos and visuals in the book are strikingly beautiful and the stories and anecdotes that go along with them are equally alluring.

Another globally recognized jewelry designer with a uniquely distinctive vision of historical and present-day India is Farah Khan and her book, FARAH KHAN: A Bejewelled Life (Rizzoli 2019 ) by Paolo DeLuca hit bookstores in mid-April. “I see myself as an alchemist who captures the moments in my life and transforms them into beautiful objects of art.” Say Farah Khan when talking about her pieces which embrace and contrast the past and future, local and global influences and create an aesthetic that is as classic as it is current and forges together a rich blend of old and new world techniques, forms, motifs and the emotions they stir.

DeLuca exploring Khan’s philosophy and creates different sections to best represent the designer's inspirations and designs, reveal her creative process alongside her drawing studies, and life-size photographs of her awe-inspiring jewelry.

Author Paola de Luca is the founder of The Futurist Ltd., a research and creative intelligence company catering to the global luxury sector. She has also developed a trend book that was the first and most authoritative publication predicting global jewelry-design trends.

For the past three years, antique and vintage jewelry enthusiasts have been seeing and using the hashtags #bringbackthebrooch and #bbb. The different and modern way in which brooches are worn today and their comeback is a testament to their design and their functionality as well as their versatility we have seen on the modern red carpet events celebrities,  runways and how they are work in multiple ways in current society.

So it’s not surprising that that the same author who brought us a timely book on rings (a highly collectible antique and vintage category) Rachel Church has penned Brooches and Badges (Thames & Hudson, pub date July 9, 2019)

The book explores the evolution of the brooch and badges from medieval times to the anti-establishment counterculture of the 20th century and naturalistic and artistic one-of-a-kind miniature sculptures designed today. The pieces photographed in the book are those displayed in the stunning V&A’s permanent collection. Church who is a curator in the Sculpture, Metalwork, Ceramics, and Glass Department at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London writes in her introduction, “The history of the brooch, and its design, are inseparable from the history and design of dress,” Brooches began their life as practical garment fasteners, and their use has risen and fallen as changes in fashion have made them more or less wearable. From the earliest years, jewelers and goldsmiths took this necessary dress fastener and turned it into a work of art.”

Highlights include the intricate goldwork of the 17th century which surround an array of vivid gemstones, the symbolic and sentimental brooches such as the ‘Luckenbooth’ or witches heart and enameled hearts with arrows and cupids accented by pearls or gemstones of the  18th century and the diamond and gemstone clips of the Art Deco movement. It takes us through the patriotic pins of the 2nd world war to the three dimension animal motifs and floral motifs of the mid 20th century. As we head into the latter part of the book, Church discusses the roles that brooches and badges played in identity and what people stood for in a world that was changing rapidly.

Photographs depict the way in which brooches were worn during different time periods which is an inspiration to how we can wear them today.  The way in which Church broaches the topic is in an easy to read and highly informational context without ever being too academic to enjoy reading about pieces of jewelry that have gained so much popularity in contemporary society.

Rachel Church has also written Rings (first printing 2014 and reprinted in 2017)

Another book by a curator in the Sculpture, Metalwork, Ceramics, and Glass Department at the Victoria and Albert Museum has a reprint of her book on the different styles of jewelry throughout history coming out.

If you want an expert’s eye and education on the history of jewelry from the Middle Ages to the 21st century, you read and breath in the knowledge of Clare Phillips, an author and V&A Museum curator.  Jewels &  Jewelry (Thames & Hudson, Pub date: May 21, 2019) has gone into several reprints since it first came out in 2000. If you haven’t read it yet and you are interested and intrigued and want to gain more information on the styles, movements, materials, provenances and periods in jewelry, this is the book for you. The book displays a jaw-dropping selection from the world-renowned collection of the V&A Museum with perfectly chosen and photographed illustrations of this collection.

Phillips has also penned Jewelry: From Antiquity to the Present and contributions to Art Nouveau 1890-1914, Silver, International Arts and Crafts, The Cult of Beauty, Alexander McQueen, and Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up for the  Victoria & Albert Museum