AUSTRALIAN JEWELLERS

Australian Jewellers - Luxury Travel Magazine

Made In Oz

By: Carol West, Issue 36 – Summer 2009

(Australian Jewellers)

AUSTRALIAN FINE JEWELLERY, WATCH AND PEARL DESIGNERS ARE NOW INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNISED.

Hollywood moments have done much to boost the desirability and prestige of international jewellery brands. Who can forget the eternally elegant Audrey Hepburn gazing wistfully into Tiffany’s windows draped in pearls, or a sparkling Marilyn Monroe purring that diamonds really are a girl’s best friend. In recent times, Australia has taken the lead in not only supplying the world’s leading jewellers with homegrown South Sea pearls and Argyle diamonds but in creating exquisite pieces for today’s screen sirens.

Sydney jeweller Stefano Canturi is one of Australia’s high profile jewellers who has created show-stopping pieces for The Matrix, Moulin Rouge and now Australia. “Everything on the set had to look authentic so I developed a collection of pieces using diamonds and Australian black sapphires reflecting the Art Deco period for Nicole Kidman’s aristocratic character,” said Stefano Canturi speaking of his collaboration with Catherine Martin on the Baz Luhrmann epic Australia. Sketching and designing before sourcing the stones, drawing on his love of history and reviving century-old processes, Canturi works with the freedom of an artisan. “The world has shrunk, people travel everywhere but there’s something indefinable about Australia’s natural, raw beauty, isolation and youthful vigour,” said Canturi. Global coverage of the ‘Satine’ necklace created for Moulin Rouge star Kidman has brought Oprah Winfrey, Warren Buffet, Linda Evangelista and Will Smith to his door while his first New York City boutique on 66th and Madison will open early 2009.

In Melbourne, Roslyn Dawson of Makers Mark Gallery supports the proposition that Australian designers have an unfettered approach to creating contemporary, luxury jewellery. “There’s a real understanding of the raw components, from the incomparable lustre of Broome’s luscious pearls to rare white and highly desirable Argyle pink diamonds. We want our designers to be earthed in the Australian landscape’s textured surfaces and inspired by its oceans, and many of our pieces embody the spirit of the land. A matte surface provides a mysterious and subtle frame for pearls and intensely coloured diamonds. These are keepsakes which are unique to Australia,” said Dawson whose local and international client list places great store in beautifully crafted pieces that showcase the country’s premium diamonds and pearls.

Former marine biologist Bill Reed from Linneys of Broome has been involved in the pearling industry for half a century, consulting to companies in several countries. He sums up pearls’ enigmatic allure in three words: lustre, lustre, lustre. That may be so but their luminous history suggests that there’s more to it than just the thickness of the nacre.

“Pearls are unpredictable, as man isn’t in control of the environment in which the gem is created. South Sea cultured pearls are sublime but to create a significant pearl strand might take 300,000 oysters and several years,” said Reed who doesn’t subscribe to the notion of a typical Australian design. “Our goldsmiths create designs inspired by the beauty of the Kimberley region from a large selection of pearls. Most Australians purchase their South Sea pearls in Australia to guarantee authenticity and our prices are generally very competitive,” said Reed whose Broome boutique attracts a steady stream of visiting Australians and Europeans.

Rosario Autore, CEO of The Autore Group agrees that it can take several harvests to complete a perfect strand of 18-20mm pearls, which can sell upwards of one million dollars. This South Sea pearl company, which sells four collections to 150 stores worldwide, has also lassoed a bevy of A-list stars with ropes of pearls at Hollywood red carpet events.

“When Julia Roberts and Mena Suvari wore Autore pearls in recent film roles, it generated a flurry of enquiries from customers and trade,” said Rosario Autore. One of the company’s recent highlights was seeing Oscar-winning actress Dame Helen Mirren, no stranger to playing queens, looking her regal best in Autore South Sea pearl jewellery when launching the latest addition to the P&O cruise fleet in England. “We always create a link with the Australian environment and ‘Oceania’, a collection of one-of-a-kind pieces, profiles the pearls’ natural home.

Inspired by Australia’s boundless, deep oceans, this delicate collection of rare South Sea pearls and fancy coloured diamonds received international accolades at the prestigious Baselworld trade fair in Switzerland last April. Some of the pieces in our new collection will feature black opals, a stone unique to Australia and while contemporising pearl jewellery and pushing the design boundaries, it’s important that each gem is grounded in its natural home,” said Rosario Autore.

The release of ‘Snowflake’ earrings not only provides Australian clients with a sneak preview of Autore’s collection for 2009 but also makes a coveted Christmas gift. A baroque South Sea pearl swings seductively from a stylized, diamond-encrusted snowflake, the organic jewelled cap on the rare keshi pearl reminiscent of melting ice. Tipped to be equally sought after under the tree is a pair of Canturi Art Deco drop earrings inspired by the film Australia.

For men on the other hand, the status watch is withstanding the test of time. According to The Hour Glass, one of the world’s leading watch retailers, apart from Australian designer Marc Newson’s development of the Pod watch some years ago, men rely on the effortless elegance of tried and tested European brands when buying time.

While screen and sports stars line up to endorse investment pieces from Jaeger-LeCoultre, Omega, Patek Philippe and Rolex, women are still being beguiled by pearls’ moon-like qualities. “I explored pearl’s luminosity and intrinsically seductive powers in our latest Ribbon collection where ladylike bows are linked by pave set diamond ‘ribbons’, scattered with sensual pearls,” said Paspaley’s head of design, Jurgen Kammler. Ravishing in its execution, the collection has potent glamour and a sense of wantonness designed to make women swoon. The world’s leading producer of South Sea pearls, Paspaley’s Australian clients are well serviced by the company’s magnificent flagship store in George Street, Sydney and the recent opening of a Melbourne boutique at 123 Collins Street. “We have a wonderful clientele in Melbourne, a stylish and sophisticated city that’s arguably leading the way in terms of luxury lifestyle investment,” said Paspaley executive chairman Nicholas Paspaley AC. The ‘Paris’ end of Collins Street is a long way from northwest Australia’s rugged terrain and the remote, pristine coastline that produces these enigmatic gems but its very isolation provides a fertile ground for the imagination. Created by Baz Luhrmann, the sophistication of Tourism Australia’s latest international advertising campaign focuses on escaping the stresses of modern metropolitan life to the freedom of discovering yourself, and each other, amidst Australia’s remote landscape.

While movies provide Australia with unparalleled international recognition, it also gives our jewellery designers a leg-up to the pantheon of international brands. Whether its establishing stores in the world’s glamour capitals, festooning acclaimed actresses or exhibiting alongside international houses such as Bvlgari, Cartier, Harry Winston and van Cleef & Arpell, Australia’s jeweler designers are the sum of our many parts. Inspired by the epic emptiness of one of the world’s last frontiers, they fuse these elusive treasures with adaptable, innovative creativity. While celebrities and arbiters of style adore our diamonds and pearls, they’re all in danger of being upsta ged by these highly coveted gifts of nature.

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