Jewelry Trends: Everything is Coming up Rose Gold

Rose gold is the hottest trend for jewelry this Spring.

Its warm hue is a perfect match with the neutrals, pastels and florals that are in for Spring. The characteristics of rose gold are flattering to any skin type.

The pink color comes from copper, which is alloyed with yellow gold. Yellow gold is always mixed with another metal for use in jewelry to improve strength. The result is the various colors of gold that we love to wear: rose, green, white, yellow.

Rose gold jewelry can be found in every price range. Fun, affordable vermeil pieces can be found like this rose gold over brass hammered cuff by Diana Warner NYC. Cartier and Etienne Perret are showing timeless classics in rose gold, and Ivanka Trump is showing fantastic rose gold, rock crystal and diamond earrings in her collection.

The groundhog says Spring is coming early this year.  Are you ready with your rose gold jewelry?

The Jewelry Brief Style Setters 2010: Thank you for a great year!

As 2010 draws to a close I would like to thank some the many people who made this year of briefs current, informative and witty.

A big thank you to the Style Setters, who took time out of busy schedules to share their creative inspirations and insights.

Many thanks:

Roberto Faraone Menella and Amedeo Scognamiglio of Faraone Menella

Etienne Perret

Banafseh Fatooriechie and Maryam Sardi of Faso

Evelyn Huang of Evelyn H

Sami Zeira

Pamela Froman

Melissa Joy Manning

Thank you to Jen Cullen, Joseph DePalma & Michael Perret for always thinking of me.

And a special thank you to Gail Brett Levine, Executive Director of the  National Association of Jewelry Appraisers, for her constant encouragement.

And finally, to my biggest fan, my sister, Merry Christmas.

To all of my readers, I wish you the happiest of holidays & all the best for 2011.

April

Style Setters: The Jewelry Brief Interviews Etienne Perret

Jeweler Etienne Perret lives and works in a part of the country where beauty and tranquility have fostered the genius of artists of many genres. The coastline of Camden, Maine drew him in at the age of nineteen, and it was there that he began to pursue his hobby of silversmithing. The Bauhaus design influences from his childhood gave shape to his extensive body of award-winning designs.

I was introduced to the creations of Etienne Perret by his son Michael, with the promise of being inspired. I was immediately drawn to the simplified, sculptural forms of bands, bangles and earrings which make up Etienne’s collections. They are functional yet so very elegant. True to his tag line “Nobody treats diamonds better”, diamonds and colored diamonds are bezel set with extreme precision and crispness into Etienne’s designs. A perfect example of bezel setting is the colored diamonds and black ceramic bangle bracelet pictured on the left. While many of his pieces are in platinum and yellow or white gold, I am crazy for Etienne Perret’s colored high-tech ceramic.

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

What is the source of your design inspiration?

I grew up in a very modern house designed by a partner of Marcel Breuer.

Our furniture was Bauhaus design.

My father was a painter and sculptor creating works that were on display around me as a child.

Camden, Maine is a beautiful, idyllic place; how has your setting influenced your work?

I try to live my life first, before career. It is much easier focusing on what I want to do being away from the turmoil of the cities.

Your work is very sculptural. Do you or have you ever considered creating art other than jewelry?

Yes, I have been developing a collection of bas-relief sculptures of the human figure, carved marble pieces that are a couple feet across and only a few inches deep to hang on the walls.

What is the greatest luxury in life?

Without question the best time in my life is the intimate time I spend with my wife.

For more picture of Etienne Perret creations please visit the Jewelry Brief’s Facebook page.

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.