Nothing suggests celebration quite like a magnificent jewel. So in honour of our 10,000 followers on Instagram and 100,000 visitors in the last month on The Jewellery Editor, we have chosen our favourite high jewellery creations of the year. And as 2014 is a Biennale des Antiquaires year, we were not short of choices of magnificent and memorable jewels.
The Louis Vuitton Acte V cuff with its dramatic use of onyx, diamonds and dazzling green tsavorite captures the drama of Art Deco jewels with a contemporary sharpness. Looking back at a more recent era of strong design, Extremely Piaget captures the laidback luxe of the 1970s with chased gold, bright splashes of turquoise and a fizz of diamonds.
Blue was a favourite colour, be it turquoise, sapphires, aquamarines or, in the case of the Graff Diamonds' Bleu de Reve necklace, a hugely valuable and rare blue diamond. This really is one to dream about as it was one of the most valuable jewels at the Biennale des Antiquaires, yet it wears its value so lightly and daintily.
Chaumet's Lumiere d'Eau high jewellery collection captures the beauty of water in its many forms. We love the different hues of blue in the tanzanite, lapis lazuli and sapphire that flow through this long tassel necklace. And there was yet more blue in Tiffany's Blue Book aquamarine bracelet, with its elegant emerald cut central stone of the prettiest blue surrounded by an Art Deco-style fan of diamond-pavéd platinum. Aquamarines also shine in Chanel's long Café Society necklace of swags of beads of this blue stone combined with diamonds and black spinels.
Others colours have had a look in and Dior's bracelet, inspired by the famous Bar jacket designed by Mr Dior in the 1950s, is a surprising and highly skilled interpretation of couture in jewels. Equally colourful and enchanting is Maison Giampiero Bodino's floral necklace, which shimmers with life thanks to the intricate diamond and gem-setting work of each little petal, bud and leaf.
The fairytale castle brooch in Van Cleef & Arpels' high jewellery collection, based on the French fairytale Peu d'Ane, also captured our attention. It takes the genius of Van Cleef to pull off a brooch in the form of a castle, complete with diamond-set turrets and sapphire clouds. For sheer magnificence, Cartier's Royal diamond and ruby necklace also deserves a special mention as it captures the majesty of high jewellery like only Cartier can.
