Rock stars: New designers break the rules of jewellery world Divia Harilela

A new generation of rebellious designers are creating jewellery for a modern audience

Pamela Love

For decades, the jewellery world has been dominated by the luxurious maisons of Place Vendôme in Paris, with their rich history and savoir faire. But a new generation of jewellers is challenging the established names with cutting-edge designs, materials, techniques, and punk attitude.
Based in New York and London, these trailblazers are anything but establishment - and there lies their appeal. British designer Shaun Leane is one of them. Leane is known for creating poetic, elegant jewels that defy convention. In addition to his own line, he has collaborated with brands such as Givenchy and Boucheron, and also designs lines for British luxury house Asprey. This year, he was named international designer of the year by Harper's Bazaar China.
Leane trained as a goldsmith in London's jewellery quarter, Hatton Garden. But it was during his long-standing collaboration with the late Alexander McQueen that his skills were pushed to new heights, with creations such as intricate body armour called the Coiled Corset.
In 1999 he launched Shaun Leane Jewellery with the intent to bring the traditional craft to a 21st-century audience. "For me, it is about creating a new genre that taps into the emotive meaning and history of jewellery, while breaking entrenched traditions to create designs relevant today," he says.

Cherry Blossom ring by Shaun Leane

Although he takes inspiration from the Art Nouveau, art deco and Victorian periods, it's his love for literature and poetry that resonates. Highlights from his collections have included the Cherry Blossom - featuring fragile flowers sculpted in enamel and studded with diamonds - and the Hawthorn, which brings British hedgerows to life. His latest, The Serpent's Trace, employs gold and diamond vertebrae necklaces and bracelets that wrap around like a snake.
Shaun LeaneLike Leane, Italian designer Gaia Repossi comes from a classic jeweller's background. Her grandparents founded the prestigious Maison Repossi in Paris in 1925. She had little interest in joining the family business to start with, preferring to study art and anthropology at the Sorbonne.
But she gave in at the age of 20, and became the company's creative director in 2007. Her minimalist designs, and cool collaborations with the likes of Alexander Wang and Joseph Altuzarra, have brought the house to a new generation.
"We started out as traditional jewellers and have been around for three generations. So while I still honour this savoir faire, I tend to break the rules of what is nowadays expected in my field," she says. "I bring an imaginary dimension and a renewal in the designs that should appeal to future generations," she says.
Repossi's designs are based around the body. She works like a sculptor, focusing on the architecture of her pieces, while using materials such as gold and diamonds to add contrast and volume. Ancient and tribal cultures also inspire many of her rings, cuffs and chokers.
"My designs evolve with the body, so they are not just an external element of decoration, but part of a person expressing something. They visually elongate the proportions of the body, and create a very refined feeling when you wear them," she says.
Some of her most iconic creations include black and diamond ear cuffs, and Berbère knuckle-duster rings, set with everything from turquoise to black diamonds. Her latest creation, Art Nouveau, features laser-cut gold with a complex pattern that represents a tree's branches viewed from above.
Her personal favourite is the cuff covered in tiny diamonds tracing the pattern of the trees. "My goal is to bring this couture feeling of jewellery closer to the street, and to create desire among an audience that felt it was more modern to wear nothing at all," she says.
Eddie BorgoThe street is a strong source of inspiration for jeweller Pamela Love. The New York University graduate originally studied film and art direction, but she started to dabble in jewellery making in 2006. Her style is a mixture of masculine and feminine, and references personal subjects - be it spirituality or Mexican folklore.
"I like to pull together antique references and put my personal spin on it. I'm always inspired by my travels, be they Stateside, or to Northern Africa. I'm interested in the adornments of other cultures. I have also been inspired by the mystical side of things," she says.
Her designs are edgy, and signatures include pentagram cuffs and tribal-style necklaces. Motifs such as skulls, crosses and claws hint at her darker side. She usually uses materials such as sterling silver, black bronze, gold and copper, while precious stones add a luxe touch.
Her latest collection, Illuminas, is inspired by the theme of secrets and desires, and features motifs used by various cultures and organisations such as the Freemasons: all-seeing eyes (for protection), arrows, snakes and hands.
Her designs may not look modern, but her philosophy is. Sustainability is a core part of her ethos, and semi-precious and precious stones are ethically sourced. Most of the metal is recycled, and production is mainly in her Manhattan studio.
While jewellery in a traditional sense features precious materials, designers such as Eddie Borgo and Philip Crangi are changing that view altogether.
Crangi adds a contemporary spin to his designs through a mix of unconventional materials such as leather and metal.
A trained goldsmith, he launched his brand, Giles & Brother, together with his sister Courtney in 2001. They describe it as a tough, yet fresh take on classic American style. The designs are inspired by everything from estate jewellery to African textiles.
"I try to find the truth in materials and express it through my technique. The value, the preciousness, comes from the design, not necessarily the material," says Crangi. Their upcoming collection includes necklaces with oversized rhinestones cut into geometric shapes on necklaces and earrings. The look is dark and glamorous.
Borgo, meanwhile, has a passion for costume jewellery. He studied art and costume theory but started out by making one-off pieces for stylists like Patti Wilson and Camilla Nickerson. He launched his own line in 2009 and has collaborated with the likes of Proenza Schouler and Jason Wu. Borgo won the Council of Fashion Designers of America's accessories designer award last year.
"I felt that the costume jewellery category had been overlooked for sometime, so I hope to create jewellery that infuses these century-old techniques with a modern voice," he says.
Borgo's style is very rock 'n' roll with a strong urban feel, which makes them contemporary. For inspiration he often looks to subcultures in New York, and the symbols they use.
"My look is consistent; I am constantly reconsidering the marriage of uptown elegance with a hard-rocking street influence. I also love the deep heritage of jewellery so I take great care in incorporating fine jewellery techniques into my designs," he says.
Borgo primarily uses metal, but has started experimenting with rubber, lapis, labradorite, jade, quartz, coral, Lucite, and ebony. Geometric shapes are his signature, with crystal-studded cones, pyramids, spheres and cubes dominating his chunky bracelets and necklaces.
His latest autumn-winter collection references women in history, including Cleopatra. He has reworked her Isis headdress into a large rock crystal pendant, with horns of jade and onyx. Other Egyptian symbols such as the Eye of Horus have been adapted into the collection's signature clasp.
"I want to create new classics that are as relevant tomorrow as they are today," says Borgo

Linoro Gioielli