Timelessness. Considering it’s the foundation of great art, it’s a quality surprisingly difficult to typify. For something to be timeless, not only does it have to be superlative but it has to endure, to stretch its hands through the decades and grasp successive generations by the shoulders. And always there’s the question of how, exactly, we make something timeless when we exist in a precise moment in history.
Eternally beautiful, they’re able to last lifetimes. But that doesn’t account for their fittings or presentation. The dilemma remains, then: how does one make jewellery – subject to fashions and trends like any other art – timeless?
According to Anne-Eva Geffroy, Design Director at luxury jewellery house Graff, it starts with the stones themselves.
Part of their success results from what she calls a “stone-led” design approach: “Before commencing with design, we dedicate a significant amount of time to studying the stone… The gems themselves inspire our vision.” This allows the gemstone, in all its beauty, to be showcased, creating a point of synthesis between the traditional, contemporary and futuristic elements of a piece.
Take, for instance, the extraordinary 118-carat cushion-cut unheated Sri Lankan sapphire that acts as the centrepiece to Graff’s diamond and sapphire bracelet.
“Its size and quality are truly magnificent, even in the realm of high jewellery.” To emphasise the sapphire’s nonpareil qualities, she paired it with over 39 carats of custom-cut fancy and round diamonds and set it in a bangle crafted from white gold.
meticulously set in brilliant white diamonds that run the length of the bangle, enhance the sapphire’s vibrant colour while ensuring the piece maintains perfect symmetry and balance.
Even before production starts, a jeweller must spend aeons simply “considering each stone or tray of stones”. These include the finest diamonds and gemstones, each one sourced and hand-selected for its unique medley of colour, clarity and quality by a member of the Graff family. This process, Geffroy says, necessitates a combination of both intuition and skill – with both needed in equal measure.
A design is eventually sketched out, with additional inspiration from sources as disparate as the natural world, art, architecture, historical jewels and the Graff archives. In the workshop, modelling clay is used to sculpt and form the initial outline of a piece, which is then scanned using state-of-the-art technology to create a perfect replica. Only once this has been thoroughly analysed, manipulated and altered to ensure the brilliance of the proposed piece can the crafting process truly begin.
For Geffroy, this marriage of traditional and innovative techniques is key to creating enduring excellence. “Our jewellery has evolved from a technological perspective, and within our workshop, there is a very progressive attitude towards the use of technology,” she says. But simultaneously, “traditional craftsmanship and tools are honoured and respected”.
Regardless of how the world has changed in that time, Graff has held firm in its commitment to be “the custodian of the world’s most historical and magnificent stones,” Geffroy says.
