taffin

Should Precious Jewels Be Strung On Shoelaces?

Filed under: Jewelry

This necklace was the subject of some debate in my house this afternoon. As much as I love the designs of James de Givenchy for Taffin for the most part, this one just seems foolish to me. The necklace, which I spotted in the February issue of W but which also appeared in the October issue of InStyle is a big rubellite tourmaline set with diamond rondels. No problem there. The problem is that it is strung on rope. Silk rope, but rope nevertheless. The necklace sells for $50,000. Does this seem like lunacy to anyone else, to string a gorgeous and very expensive pendant on something that can fray or stain. Something better used for handmade beads or a kicky sterling silver charm. While I understand the cheeky nature of the high/low, of combining the precious with the ephemeral, I think that serious gems are a serious investment and should be treated as such. Stainless steel and diamonds I can live with because at least steel is tough. Can we really imagine this hitting the auction market in 20 years?

The argument in my house? While I was very loudly proclaiming why this was wrong, wrong, wrong and an insult to a stone which took nature years to create, miners great effort to find, and a jeweler time and skill to cut and polish, my significant other went outside, picked up a rock lying in the dirt and said, "It took nature a long time to create this one too." And now you know why I buy my own jewelry.

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Tags: diamonds, jewelry, rubellite, silk, taffin

James de Givenchy's New Luxury Partnerships

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor, Jewelry

Jewelry designer James de Givenchy has been quite busy with luxury brands recently. His studio, Taffin, has created a collection of fifteen one-of-a-kind pieces for Sotheby's Diamonds. The James de Givenchy for Sotheby's Diamonds collection uses diamonds of various sizes and colors which range in price from $80,000 to $2 million.

James de Givenchy and Taffin have also teamed up with Krug to create the amazing ice bucket shown here. The bucket is lined in sterling silver and features an exterior of red lacquer and rare opals and is valued at $100,000.

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Tags: james de givenchy, krug, sotheby's, taffin