Cute critters

These creepy crawlies might give you a fright if you encounter them in the garden, but in jewellery form they have the opposite effect.

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  • Daniela Villegas’ Backyard collection is full of creepy crawlies that you would normally go out of your way to avoid. Beetles are a recurring theme, but no stone is left unturned. These velvet chokers (£1,932; £2,412) feature a gold centipede and a pair of stag beetles clasping green garnets.
  • Stephen Webster’s Fly by Night Grasshopper ring ($10,500) has incredibly lifelike eyes – two perfectly smooth cabochon tsavorites. Perched atop a white gold ring, its legs and head are set with lush green tsavorites, while its body was created using Webster’s innovative Crystal Haze technique.
  • A black opal forms the body of this Summer Bug brooch (POA) from George Pragnell’s Masterpiece collection. It is the unusual colour combinations I love most – the glow of the opal combined with cabochon coral eyes and carved chalcedony wings, topped with a Fancy Intense greenish blue diamond.
  • From Lydia Courteille, queen bee of the surreal, comes this spider brooch (€59,000), which takes the world’s most feared creepy crawlie and turns it into a work of art. With a moonstone body and legs sprouting green garnet leaves, this giant arachnid can scuttle over me any day.   
  • If you haven’t been to Bentley & Skinner’s London Piccadilly boutique yet, you should. Its range of antique jewellery is one of the best in Britain, but you will find plenty of contemporary pieces there too, like this adorable, chubby-cheeked bee brooch (£32,500).
  • Gaelle Khouri Soft Deconstruction Perpetuity palm bracelet
     
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  • Arya Esha Swiss blue topaz earrings with tourmaline and peridot accents
     

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