Latest articles by Caragh McKay
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Watch brands celebrate the first timepieces in outer space
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Vacheron Constantin launches Cercle 250, to preserve ancient crafts
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A new gem show entices the cream of contemporary jewellers to Geneva
GemGenève opens its gilded doors in Geneva tomorrow. The brainchild of an elite band of industry dealers and collectors, it promises to be a curated gem of a trade show offering a fresh perspective on today’s high jewellery world – an elite universe where collectors, experts, clients and connoisseurs converge. ‘We want GemGenève to become not only a vibrant trading place, but also an educational experience, a place where, each year, people come to discover new talents, new stories and undiscovered treasures,’ says Ida Faerber of the Faerber family, the renowned antique jewellery experts who lend to museums and galleries across the world and who spurred the show’s creation. From diamond and fine-pearl merchants to antique jewellery dealers and uniquely skilled craftsmen, GemGenève is designed to be as elegant and refined as you’d expect, but with an eye on the best in modern jewellery design too. Here’s our preview of the Contemporary Designer Showcase curated by jewellery historian and author Vivienne Becker:
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Audemars Piguet celebrates 40 years of the Royal Oak
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Tom Ford’s first Swiss watch enters with a 1970s swagger
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Louis Vuitton opens watches and jewellery store in Paris
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Blueprint for living: exploring London’s post-war housing at the Fitzhugh Estate
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Exceptional collection of vintage Panerai watch designs to go on sale in Paris
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Eilean’s new era: Panerai’s restored yacht
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Jewellery designers are ringing the changes for men’s wedding bands
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Frank Buchwald's Nixie Machine illuminates time at Geneva's MAD Gallery
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Embellishing an empire: a new exhibition puts Napoleon’s jeweller in the spotlight
Heritage-jewellery exhibitions are proving a top draw at museums across the globe. But then, rare jewels bring wonder, history, high glamour, jaw-dropping skills and, for some, a twitch of schadenfreude with them – they also symbolise the rise and fall of faded dynasties. Chaumet’s current exhibition Chaumet in Majesty: Jewels of Sovereigns, then, delivers on all fronts. Here’s our highlights.
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Valery Demure launches a curated jewellery e-shop
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Collectors’ corner: Sotheby’s Diamonds Tree Brooches
Brim full of life, rich in sumptuous texture and with the visceral character of exquisitely crafted cartoons, we can’t help but love Sotheby’s Diamonds ‘Tree’ brooches. Each delightfully abstract form is inspired by everything from Old Master paintings to mid-century sculpture. Trunks are expertly honed from a trove of unexpected materials, such as jadeite, coral and Maw sit sit, while branches and buds pop with rare diamonds, tourmalines and sapphires. This week, Sotheby’s Hong Kong is celebrating a decade of these special designs in a retrospective exhibition, with some new pieces also featured. We preview some of the natural, shimmering wonders on show:
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Collectors’ corner: Siegelson’s rare jewels light up Tefaf New York
As with fine art, rare-jewel collections reflect their curator’s distinct point of view. Siegelson, New York, has encapsulated the verve, discipline and sheer artistry of 20th century jewellery design like no other. It would be easy to say that proprietor Lee Siegelson views jewellery as art but such is his collecting style that he doesn’t have to tell you so. Anyone with an interest in art, design and architecture would gain from a visit to his booth at Tefaf New York this week. Here, we choose five current Siegelson pieces that reveal why:
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Collectors’ corner: Mads Kornerup
When Wallpaper* visited Mads Kornerup in Copenhagen, the co-founder of fine-jewellery house Shamballa Jewels welcomed us with a leisurely meet-and-greet tour of his home city. He also gave us a personal tour of his studio at the Shamballa HQ. From huge brass Nepalese humming bowls to incense threads and crumpled metal artefacts, Kornerup, an avid globetrotter, is also a natural hoarder of weird and wonderful things. Here, he narrows down his collection to five favourite objects he cites as perennial sources of inspiration. Here’s why:
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Collectors’ corner: Albert Boghossian
Having produced jewellery for several renowned houses, Albert Boghossian established the eponymous high jewellery house with his brother Jean and nephews Roberto and Ralph in Geneva in 2007, becoming its CEO. Sixth-generation Armenian jewellers, the brothers moved from Syria to Lebanon, and then to Europe in the 1970s during the Lebanese Civil War. They established business bases in Geneva and Antwerp in the 1970s and created the Boghossian Foundation in Brussels in 1992. It is housed in the now fully restored Villa Empain, an art deco architectural masterpiece by Swiss architect Michel Polak. Here, Albert lifts the lid on his personal treasure-trove of jewelled objects:
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Masters old and new: Hannah Martin unveils a modern classic in New York
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Classic with a twist: meet Chanel’s new Boy.Friend watch
Meet one of our favourite watches of the year because of its cheeky simplicity: Chanel's new Boy.Friend watch
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Contemporary design dominates Paris Couture Week's multifaceted fine jewellery presentations
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Loris Cecchini teams up with Chaumet to design a work of art for the wall and wrist
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Chain reaction: the making of Handmade 2015’s 'Table Jewel' candy bowls, by Cora Sheibani and Hamilton & Inches
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Patricia Urquiola puts her tastemaker’s stamp on Panerai’s new London outpost
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Patek Philippe extends its influence on London's New Bond Street with the help of architects AW²
