Like many of the biggest names in jewellery, each year British jeweller Boodles launches a haute joaillerie collection to showcase its design credentials and incredible gemstones. Its name, Wonderland, captures the fantasy world that you enter when you slip on a piece of jewellery from the collection. A necklace in the shape of a swan with outstretched wings, set with 19ct of cascading diamonds, is not everyday wear - it's jewellery as art.
Wonderland 2012 was inspired by travels on the Silk Road - a historical network of trade routes that connected South, East and Western Asia with the Mediterranean and European world, as well as parts of North and East Africa - and the collection is filled with exotic influences, from the oriental fan design that recurs in the Rising Sun earrings, ring and pendant to the paisley pattern, Indian in origin, that works so beautifully interpreted in a necklace and pair of earrings. Some of the pieces are real showstoppers - a Dolphin ring set with an enormous 49.58ct aquamarine, for example, will dazzle anyone who dares glance in its direction - but this year's collection shows restraint, too. Whilst each piece is undeniably precious, many are highly wearable, too.
It is quite possible to imagine yourself enjoying dinner à deux at Claridges wearing the Riviera Tourmaline pendant. Despite its high jewel count, this longer style - the pendant sits just below the breastbone - has become a fashionable, and more casual, alternative to the straighter-laced necklace. It also has a detachable turquoise bead tassel, a neat little twist that means you can alternate between two looks.
The Damask Rose Ring, inspired by the highly fragrant flower found in Damascus, is set with an exceptionally rare, 1.18ct intense yellow Ashoka diamond, adding a flash of colour among the curled, diamond-set petals. It's elegant and immensely pretty, the kind of ring you could wear out without feeling self-conscious of its size. Winding around the neck like a diamond-encrusted tendril before joining a vivid blue 27.31ct aquamarine, the detail on the Kyoto necklace is quite incredible. But my favourite piece has to be the Palazzo pendant. With its faceted briolette-cut beryl suspended from a vivid Paraiba tourmaline, surrounded by brilliant-cut tanzanites, the blend of blues and greens is exquisite - alive.
Boodles has just launched a new website so you can travel through Wonderland whenever you feel like an escape from the encroaching autumn weather and take a bejewelled journey through distant lands, where jewels bloom in exotic forms.
