Capital venture: IJL Trends

Vintage
Buoyed on by TV favourites Mad Men and Downton Abbey, jewellery harking back to bygone eras continues to inspire designers to reinvent the old and ticks the boxes for consumers. IJL will be no stranger to vintage and antique styles this year.

Jeremy Hoye’s Libertine collection mixes the past with the future, producing a collection that combines old romantics with a contemporary edge. “Vintage will always be popular because it creates nostalgia towards the past,” says Hoye.

Alexis Dove says that vintage will be a key theme for her at IJL. Her Curio range, which is inspired by cabinets of curiosities and wonder that were collected by 17th century explorers, is made from combinations of silver and gold vermeil.

It has been expanded to include vintage buttons and more bunches of keys in the form of bracelets and long pendants.

As for Kleshna Handel, the woman behind fashion jewellery brand Kleshna, the Art Deco period has inspired her latest offering of a Chrysler necklace and bracelet using a layered chain, which echoes the fanned top of the landmark New York tower. The pieces experiment with a gold-plated chain and a deep satin haematite smoked chain, paired with sparkling faceted crystals and jet roundels.

“The Art Deco design era has stood the test of time to become an iconic movement for architects, designers and artists of then and now,” says Handel.

On Nomination’s stand, the Charleston collection, inspired by the iconic styles of vintage fashion, captures the 1920s era in sterling silver with black agate stones.

Vintage glamour will, of course, also be supplied by the opulent array of pearls on the Jersey Pearl, London Pearl, Dower & Hall and Euro Pearls stands.

Dark nature
For a couple of seasons now, partly due to the burgeoning folk scene, which has influenced music and fashion, a sense of whimsy has been in evidence. Jewellery has been inspired by nature, with bees, butterflies and English country gardens in bloom being referenced. This winter though, some are taking inspiration from the more sinister side of mother nature.

This darkness inspired Tomasz Donocik, the UK Jewellery Awards 2011 Designer of the Year, to produce his latest collection, The Garden of Good and Evil. It features designs based on, among other things, the Venus Flytrap.

“I used the Venus Flytrap as an inspiration because it has a sinister, dangerous connotation that always seemed to draw my attention,” he says.

And he’s not the only one. Momocreatura’s victimised animals, Cabbage is King’s Alice in Wonderland-style fantasies and Bjørg’s skull details all point to things getting darker for winter.

Textures
Taking the rough with the smooth is all part of life, and never do the two opposites work in such poetic harmony as when brought together in jewellery.

RJ is loving designers’ use of different materials and contrasting textures.

Gina Melosi continues to wow with the highly polished flat planes and rough edges of her Shattered Fragments collection. “Although the collection is stylised, the two textures used highlight the organic shapes of the cast shards of glass,” says Melosi. “It makes the objects interesting from a variety of angles.”

In her lockets, Sarah Ibrahim creates a dramatic look using the fine line markings of matt silver to contrast with shiny gold-leaf interiors.

“I think pieces that use textures appeal to people at the moment because it adds more interest to a piece,” Ibrahim explains. “It can feel different, look different and creates more possibilities to change the style and quality of a piece.”

Meanwhile, Doreth Jones’s current collection uses wood, silver and stones -raw materials used in jewellery since ancient times - and is particularly tactile. “The textures of my pieces
reflect the warmth of the real world and the glow of precious materials inset with natural stones,” says Jones.

“My pieces attract attention in terms of both their aesthetic and tactile appeal,” she adds.

Bold and affordable
Designers at this year’s IJL have also endeavoured to create pieces that turn customers’ wants into realities, even when luxury budgets aren’t as large as they were.

Annika Rutlin is one jeweller who has created affordable, eye-catching jewellery. She dealt with the issue of sky-rocketing metal prices by creating a collection that has a low metal weight but still has high impact. This has allowed her to produce designs for the Mandala collection at low price points without compromising the wow factor. The designs are made of sterling silver, 9ct yellow gold, pearls and diamonds, with trade prices ranging from £12 to £125.

Andrew Geoghegan has also created flashy pieces that are value for money. This year at IJL, bold cocktail rings such as the Satellite Peridot (right) will be one of Geoghegan’s key pieces. The ring is made of 18ct rose gold with a 3.5ct peridot gemstone and 25 pts diamonds, with a trade price of £1,280.

Platinum Trail
If you’ve got a passion for platinum then Platinum Guild International’s (PGI) Platinum Trail is a path you’ll want to follow. This year the Platinum Trail displays have been given a techie boost with the introduction of QR codes. Visitors can scan the codes with their smartphones, which will then be directed to a relevant website where they can garner more information about the product.

As part of the trail, PGI is running a design competition to recognise exceptional platinum jewellery presentation and design skills, and RJ’s editor Laura McCreddie will be on the judging panel. This year, there are four separate categories for members of the Platinum Trail to enter:

• Best Platinum Display Award
• Best Platinum Design Award - most inspirational bridal tri-set
• Best Platinum Design Award - most commercially appealing bridal tri-set
• The Retailers’ Choice
  
  The winners will be celebrated at a PGI party on the Monday evening.

Layering
The look for this autumn is layers, and lots of them. Necklaces with chains that hang at different lengths will be popular. Bracelets made from multiple strands, or from one long strand that can wrap around the wrist will also achieve that desired layered look. Expect an exciting variety of styles from an array of designers.

The most popular form of this ilk is the leather-wrap bracelet. Tirisi Moda’s offer contains bright leather bracelets, ranging from purple and pink to orange, that wrap around the wrist multiple times. Charms can be added to them for flair.

Tomasz Donocik’s collection of wrap-around bracelets continues to evolve.

One bracelet can wrap around to create different layers. Made from leather straps with beads along the bracelet, the pieces are a great product for men with a fashion edge. His Black Hematite has a Swarovski leather strap with silver star beads strung along the band.

A less sweeping variation of the layered look features in William Cheshire’s much-loved Libertine collection. These bracelets are made of strands that are shorter in length but the layered effect is the same. Layers and stacking are definitely ones to watch at IJL.

“Design wise, layers will be in demand,” says Jianhui of Jianhui London. Its Next Pashmina collection, made from hundreds of lightweight wooden beads, consists of multiple strands that hang at different lengths to create one necklace. Jianhui London’s Sunflower Chain pendant and Sunflower Multi-strand necklaces are made from strands of crystals.

The brand’s multi-strand Butterfly Bow necklace from the Butterfly collection is made of glass beads and crystal diamante bows, and strands of crystals hang together to create the Single Butterfly necklace.

The Total Honesty collection from Latham & Neve offers layers, wrapping and twisting. Total Honesty is made from silver, or silver with solid 18ct gold. Metal coils complete the layered look. “We decided to include wrapping and layers in our new collection because we are constantly striving to produce new, contemporary jewellery designs with a modern twist,” says co-owner Helen Neve.

Mischa Jewels London is including layers in the form of multi-strand necklaces such as the Gold/Onyx Pearl necklace and the Swarovski Silver necklace. And its Rococo collection consists of necklaces that were created to be worn either long or doubled up to create multiple layers.

Pieces from Peter Lang’s Spring Crystal Cascade collection, with its tribal and futuristic patterns, also look particularly striking when layered.

Cool colourings
After last year’s flashy colour selections, designers are taking a more subtle approach this year. Silver Mine UK is introducing new line Boruchi at IJL. Sticking with the blues and purples that dominate its designs, Boruchi features pendants and earrings that use combinations of gemstones set in silver.

Over on the Nomination stand, the fluid forms of the silver collection, comprising necklaces, bracelets, earrings and cocktail rings, are enriched with violet and blue hydrothermal stones.
Meanwhile, Hazel Atkinson Jewellery - known for its beautiful hand-painted and anodised aluminium - is this season using cool colours for bases with pops of greens, yellows and pinks for a dramatic and girly contrast. The lilac and crystal blue bangles are the perfect pieces of jewellery to transition from the warm summer months into the cooler winter months.

For some designers, such as Jayce Wong, the cooler colours are actually a step in a brighter direction. Wong’s collections usually include hues of grey and pink, but the collection she is bringing to IJL plays with bright greens and blues instead.

Watches
Red was a big trend at Basel, and six months later it’s still looking fresh. A.b.art has a cool square scarlet red timepiece, while Storm opts for a more rectangular stainless steel bracelet watch with a red dial.

Women’s fashion is heading back to the 1940s and 1950s and, thanks to BBC drama The Hour, it looks like men’s styles are following suit. Zepplin’s watches are beautiful examples of retro-influenced timepieces that are great for men to wear and even better for their wives or girlfriends to steal.

However, that doesn’t mean it’s all clean lines and paired down aesthetics. Chronographs are also in evidence at IJL, with A.b.art offering a version with red indices, while Wenger’s Squadron Chrono with black dial and strap looks seriously manly.

For something completely different that caused a stir at Basel, there is Storm’s LED display timepiece. It uses a configuration of LED lights with different colours representing different values to tell the time.

It’s a touch of sci-fi in the everyday and a real talking point.

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