Yahoo Finance Textured gold sets a new standard of craftsmanship, while Vhernier celebrates an icon
The humble term 'goldsmith' doesn't do justice to the work of Jacques Lenfant, whose father Georges gave his name to the Parisian workshop that executed jewels for the great maisons of the 20th century: Cartier, Hermès, Van Cleef & Arpels et al.
It was Lenfant junior who cemented the firm's status, creating some of the most daring, precisely worked jewellery imaginable. Hancocks in Burlington Arcade keeps a beady eye out for the Georges Lenfant house mark on gleamingly yellow, undulating bracelets, like this Tissu Milanais.
But good gold needn't be old gold - Buccellati's masterfully twisted bracelets are modern alchemy. Chopard's Fairmined Laurel bangle is an ethical, Caesar-esque take on the theme, while Van Cleef & Arpels' application of the guilloché technique to the gleaming, mirror-polished metal of the new Vintage Alhambra pieces makes for a more subtle, retro look.
But if that's all a bit much, look to Boodles' sweet Orchard bracelet - a delicate, pear-strewn chain, perfect for peeping out from under a shirt cuff.
Viva Vhernier
Rhodium-plated gold and diamond Eclisse earclips, £39,400, Vhernier
Heritage Italian jeweller Vhernier is celebrating 20 years of its now iconic Calla design, which has in turn spawned a new style of diamond pavé setting across two of its classic earclips: the brilliantly bold, geometric Eclisse (above) and Verso.
Named Eyeliner, the setting is the first time the house has combined large and small stones for a scattered, night-sky effect, and also the first time it has used brown diamonds, set in warm, pink-hued rhodium-plated gold.
The white-diamond version sees the gold plated in a dark blue, making the stones pop more intensely, but both have the same gloriously casual quality. Hip, hip, hooray! (For them, and us.)
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