Yahoo News Piaget transports us to the jungle with Wings of Light, its joyous new high jewellery collection
Piaget’s joyous high jewellery is always a mood lifter. It transports us to sunnier climes and an era of decadent glamour - a welcome mental escape, air bridges or no air bridges. Wings of Light, the latest collection, is themed around the colours of the jungle, but with a focus on clean lines, exceptional stones and purity of design.
Gemstones take centre stage in the Secret Cenote suite, in which a 22.68-carat Sri Lankan sapphire shimmers gently at the centre of a supple diamond necklace, representing the sacred pools found in the tropical jungles of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula.
Precisely matched pools of velvety blue sapphire feature in the matching cocktail ring and earrings, while the high jewellery watch that completes the set is pure Piaget magic: asymmetric layers of channel-set sapphires in various shades of blue, finished with a dial of Australian black opal that gleams with all the colours of the jungle.
The Fascinating Canopy suite will also appeal to gem connoisseurs: a set of five no-oil Colombian emeralds that took three years to amass feature in a single necklace, their step-cut strength offset by a flurry of marquise-cut diamonds and emeralds.
The Blooming Flora suite features two rare Tanzanian spinels, believed to be the last two stones over 10 carats mined over 20 years ago from an artisanal mine renowned for its exceptional quality. Beautifully rich in colour and tone, one blazes at the centre of a medallion on a transformable necklace of white and pink pearls, while its partner shines in the matching cocktail ring.
Elsewhere, the collection highlights Piaget’s material prowess, and the skills of its network of independent craftspeople.
The hero piece of the collection, the Majestic Plumage necklace, sees the plume of an exotic bird meticulously recreated in feather marquetry by artist Nelly Saunier, complemented by a rainbow of sapphires and spinels, with a 7.49-carat Paraiba tourmaline to boot. In a deft bit of engineering, the feather marquetry can be removed and worn as a single ear cuff or two fabulously mismatching earrings.
Wood, leather and mother-of-pearl marquetry by artist Rose Saneuil, meanwhile, lends a tactile quality to the Rainbow Light suite. Rubellites and tourmalines are chosen to represent sunset hues, creating a rosy glow across gold that’s painstakingly hand-etched with the house’s ‘palace décor’ technique.
Further sketches from the collection reveal a cocktail watch whose bracelet is a kaleidoscope of coloured gemstones, a diamond bib necklace tipped with oranges and yellows like burning embers, and a magnificent collar set with all the colours of the sunset. While its clients may not have had the globe-trotting summer they are accustomed to, with these pieces Piaget brings to sun to them.
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