Faraone Mennella: From Italy with Glamour

The jewelry of the Italian duo of Robert Faraone Mennella and Amedeo Scognamiglio has been catching my eye every where recently. Designing under the name of Faraone Mennella, the firm produces bold, yet feminine jewelry that will join the timeless creations of many famous jewelry houses.

Their collection is cohesive; the prominent style is larger, glamorous pieces using warm and often muted colors. Their style is very reminiscent of what I love best from Seaman Schepps. The collection also features many interesting fancy link chains, often incorporating links of different hard stones. The pieces that I am most drawn to feature large cabochon cut stones, stones cut in a highly polished convex form not faceted, in wonderful color juxtapositions. Faraone Mennella’s latest ad campaign, which can be seen on their website and in many publications, features a flower motif necklace and a “fringe” necklace, both stellar examples of this style.

The Wonderful Jewels of Etienne Perret

I was recently introduced to the creations of Etienne Perret with the promise of being inspired, and I was. So, I am passing on the inspiration that comes when one sees an object of particularly high design made with great care and attention in the execution.

Mr. Perret, born of Swiss parents, has been working for the past 30 years in Camden, Maine, an area of the country whose beauty and tranquility has fostered artists of many genres. His body of designs, as his website states, “ranges from refreshingly playful to strikingly elegant” with a common design element running through all of the pieces.

Mr. Perret works extensively with diamonds and colored diamonds, which are used in his collection of high-tech ceramic pieces. The ceramic, Zirconia Ceramic, which is extremely hard and durable comes in a variety of colors including black, white, and various pastels. Etienne Perret has created a line of ceramic rings with colored diamonds set in gold bezels, which are breath taking. Shown here is an example of the bezel set colored diamonds in black ceramic. My personal favorite is a black ceramic band centered by a row of bead-set diamonds…timelessly elegant.

I encourage you all to visit www.EtiennePerret.com to see his full line of jewelry, learn more about colored diamonds and the jeweler himself.