Many designers working in the high jewelry sector take pride in crafting metallic settings that seem to disappear, allowing the color, fire and vivacity of extraordinary gemstones to shine through.
Luxury houses like Van Cleef & Arpels and Cartier, among others, have patented their techniques for creating what is known as invisible settings. Skilled designers, including the India-based Viren Bhagat, can craft platinum settings so thin that the gemstones they hold appear to float on the skin.
But others are now reimagining the place of metal by incorporating it into their pieces as a standout, aesthetic element. This fresh approach opens new design avenues for once stone-focused designers while also challenging conventional perceptions of what makes high jewelry valuable.
“Metal is omnipresent at Louis Vuitton in the hardware of our trunks, in closures, in buckles,” Francesca Amfitheatrof, the house’s artistic director of watches and jewelry, said by phone from her studio in Bridgewater, Conn. “For us, metal is right up there in high jewelry’s pantheon of precious materials.”
The white gold and diamond-set Myriad necklace (price on application) reflects her design approach: She presented it at the Louis Vuitton flagship on the Place Vendôme during Haute Couture Week in Paris in January as part of the brand’s Deep Time collection.
