Old Bond Street is famous for its long-established big brand jewellers but there are some new kids on the block hoping to shake things up a little. A few months ago, Lily Gabriella and Fernando Jorge moved into the neighbourhood. They are part of a new wave of independent contemporary jewellery designers that have arrived in Mayfair, joining Sarah Ho and the edgy but elegant Shaun Leane who are located at the tip of New Bond Street in Woodstock Street.
Brazilian-born Fernando Jorge left his former Shoreditch premises to open a showroom above a gallery in Grafton Street to cater for a clientele seeking his more luxurious and bespoke jewels. For Lily Gabriella this is her first retail venture having graduated in Fine Arts in Boston and worked at Christie’s in Geneva before launching her brand in 2015 with graphic, chromatic jewels set in gold and coloured titanium. More recently she collaborated on a special high jewellery collection for Sotheby’s Diamonds.
Lily Gabriella showroom is a powder pink jewel box in Burlington Arcade’s penthouse overlooking Piccadilly. It is a haven filled with mid-century furniture and a lot of gorgeous pinkness from tourmalines and sapphires, to morganites and amethysts from her Collectors Editions of contemporary one-of-a-kind pieces, often based on coiled shapes. Perhaps some of these beauties were inspired by her grandmother, the great jewellery collector and philanthropist Lily Safra, who nurtured Lily’s passion for jewellery and craftsmanship from a young age.
Fernando Jorge’s sensuous sculptural jewels bring a flavour of his native Brazil to Mayfair along with beautiful wood interiors designed by a Brazilian friend and featuring locally sourced artworks. It provides a cool elegant backdrop to his explosive diamond jewels, beautifully hand-carved hardstone and curvaceous gold designs.
He is one of London’s brightest emerging talents launching his business in 2012 having graduated from Central Saint Martin’s and building a globally recognised brand that can now quote Mayfair as its home.
Further up Bond Street and neighbouring Bonhams is Sarah Ho’s showroom which she opened in 2018. The award-winning designer raised in Macau, relocating to London to establish her business and now residing in Monaco, has a bold modern aesthetic. She mixes contemporary materials and finishes like ceramic and unusual titanium alloys with age-old enamel techniques.
More recently her showroom, an intimate Art Deco-inspired space which she calls the ‘Pink Palace’ has been the hub of bespoke commissions from clients, revamping precious antique jewellery using recycled gold and lots of natural pearls. Alongside this ethical approach, which is now at the heart of her business, she creates exquisite one-of-a-kind jewels highlighting rare gems such as a pair of chandelier earrings set with orange melo melo pearls.
The arrival of these fresh names in contemporary design is adding to the allure of Mayfair as a dazzling destination for the very best in modern jewellery.
__________________________________________________________________
All showrooms are by appointment
- Fernando Jorge 7a Grafton Street, W1S 4EJ Tel: 020 7729 0126
- Lily Gabriella, The Penthouse, 73 Burlington Arcade, W1J 0QR Tel: 020 7408 0522
- Sarah Ho, 21 Woodstock Street, Mayfair W1C 2AP Tel: 020 7629 6886
__________________________________________________________________
