Vanity Fair UK 07.08 2022_downmagaz.net-1

S O P H I E B U H A I : G I L L I AN GA RC I A . LU C I E GL E D H I L L : LO RE N ZO B E RN I . EL S A T IE R NE Y: RI C H A R D VAL E N CI A P H OTO GRA P H Y.SILVER BLAZE exhibition marking 150 years of Tiffany necklaces. The pieces pulse with Clockwise from above: Lucie & Co in the UK. “Style is to be simple,” movement and life, facilitated by silver’s Gledhill Curb chain; Tiffany & Co Peretti once said—no wonder she chose multitude of tones. “It’s the only metal Elsa Peretti Bone cuff; Georg silver’s cooler, contemporary finish for that gives back the entire palette of greys,” Jensen Moonlight Grapes her debut Bone cuff. says the designer, “from the darkest of necklace; Sophie Buhai Nautilus blacks to the shiniest of whites.” ring; The Royal Mint 886 ring; Silver’s precious history is being Giovanni Raspini Byzantine celebrated by the Royal Mint, Britain’s Silver takes on a more surrealist air bracelet; Atelier Romy Meringue oldest maker. Its new 886 collection, in the designs of Los Angeles-based earrings; Elsa Tierney Skia pendant; named after the year the Mint was Sophie Buhai, who has parlayed her Georg Jensen Offspring earhoops. founded, features weighty, substantial shell-motif Coquille jewellery line into jewels, crafted in Britannia silver, a objects including a sterling-silver hand Plus, there’s something comforting special alloy created in 1697 to rival mirror and lighter, a table box and letter about silver jewellery’s natural, soft sterling silver. Made using ancient opener. For other designers, silver harks aesthetic, which really comes to the techniques—struck and forged silver, back to a childhood love. Elsa Tierney fore in Tiffany’s iconic Bone cuff. The rather than cast—the resulting jewels collected vintage silver jewellery as a sensual, ergonomic piece has stood have a satisfying heft and simplicity of teenager, and her pieces ooze charm, the test of time for more than 50 years, form: understated hoops, a matching such as a moon-faced Angel ring or a seducing fans including Liza Minnelli, choker and eternity rings. fully articulated marionette necklace. Exhibited last year at the Goldsmiths’ “SILVER IS ACCESSIBLE Elsewhere, silversmithing master Fair in London, the necklace suspends FOR BOTH THE MAKER Giovanni Raspini’s brand saw sales a silver puppet on a gold chain. Had the in 2021 soar 40 per cent year-on-year. whole piece been cast in gold, however, AND CUSTOMER. Nature and travel are Raspini’s design the vibe would be wholly different. IT IS AN ANCIENT METAL touchpoints, informing bold yet intricate knotted chains and ocean-inspired LUCIE GLEDHILL TRACES her love of the WITH A RICH HISTORY metal back to the silver-wire friendship AND AN IMPRESSIVE bracelets of her youth. In more recent times, discovering her great- DURABILITY.” grandfather’s fob chain in a vintage ice- cream box under the stairs (as one does) Sophia Loren and Grace Jones. The led her to explore silver chains. “Silver cuff was the brainchild of designer is a beautiful and reflective, reactive and tastemaker Elsa Peretti, tasked metal,” she says. “I love to watch how it with modernising Tiffany in the 1970s, reacts as I work it, and I often melt and who had a penchant for tactile, elegant mix in other metals to make alloys— gems—the best of which are currently forging, rolling and drawing the metal being shown in London at a special into wire.” Today, chains are Gledhill’s signature, and run the gamut from classic gradated designs and links that are jumbled and melded in various sizes, to a fishbone chain of hundreds of loops and entwined, mesh-like chains crafted from thousands of hair-like strands. There are even gigantic chains that are more akin to sculpture. Ultimately, that’s the beauty of silver: not weighed down by intrinsic value like its gold sibling, the metal enables true creative expression. “It’s accessible for both the maker and customer,” says Gledhill—a sentiment that’s echoed by Meghan Griffiths, who in 2020 founded Angharad, a jewellery line of hammered silver designs that nod to Welsh folklore. At once playful and relaxed compared to gold, “silver is also an ancient metal with a rich history and an impressive durability,” says Griffiths. “It enables me to design pieces with creative freedom that will also remain timeless and last forever.” n J U LY / AU G U ST 2 02 2 103

And Finally... MARINE LIFE Harry Winston’s Shades of Blue collection evokes the serene beauty of the Aegean, says Melanie Eddy Clockwise from top right: Santorini; Shades of Blue necklace; Harry Winston workshop; aquamarines for the Shades of Blue necklace; Shades of Blue earrings. Blue-and-white Cubist villages hug cliff faces overlooking a glittering ultramarine sea, conjuring up the unsurpassed beauty of Santorini—that gem of the Cyclades, whose vertiginous volcanic landscape has inspired poets and artists alike. Harry Winston’s Majestic Escapes collection explores the décolletage. Statement earrings with two whopping pools of COURTESY OF HARRY WINSTON. most breathtaking places Mother Nature has to offer, aquamarine echo the arrangement. transporting us to stunning locales around the globe. Its Shades of Blue Suite has me slipping into a cool pool When Harry Winston first envisioned jewellery where the perched precariously on the edge of a caldera and gazing out design was determined by individual diamonds and not the at the Aegean. And after the few years we have had, who metal setting, the concept was revolutionary. The idea for his could resist slipping into a pool in a demi-parure, à la wreath necklace came to him in the 1940s when Elizabeth Taylor? The collection features eight contemplating the Christmas garland decorating his front one-of-a-kind suites of vibrant gemstones, with each door in New York, the holly seemingly held together without piece taking more than two years from inception to internal support. Winston was transfixed. He went on to completion—and majestic they are. liberate jewels, creating a lightness and flow that was unencumbered by architectural structures. Not for nothing did Harry Winston acquire the epithet “King of Diamonds”. The resplendent Shades of Blue, Shades of Blue transports you through the designer’s eye to however, lets aquamarines and sapphires steal the show. Santorini, where nature’s rugged beauty blends with the Anchored by eight octagon aquamarines of gradated size, a splendour of architecture. The best design appears effortless, cornucopia of aquas, sapphires and (of course) diamonds and it’s good to see that the legacy of Harry Winston—a master wreathe the neck and tumble in a cascade towards the at transforming stones into jewels of distinction with the lightest of touches—lives on. n 104 VAN ITY FAI R ON JEW EL LERY J U LY / AU G U ST 2 02 2