This sinuous, adjustable bracelet from Athens-based heritage brand Minas Jewellery is made of … [+] 18-karat yellow gold and neoprene.STUDIO 46
I regularly cover international trade shows like Vicenzaoro, JCK, Couture and INHORGENTA because these shows are where I need to go to report in detail on design-driven fine jewelry, high jewelry, and other luxury accessories. While I respect these shows for their precise focus, professional rigor and creative drive, the jewelry shows during Paris Fashion Week are often less organized and more difficult to attend. Because there’s a hodgepodge of small, single-brand jewelry showrooms located in various corners and hotel rooms of Paris, journalists and most important, retail buyers, typically criss-cross the city in a gruelling six-day marathon searching for jewelry. This autumn/winter 2024 Paris Fashion Week, however, promises to be different, as the new, carefully cultivated and centralized GOLDRUSH jewelry show is making its debut.
This 18-karat gold and opal lock necklace by Brooke Gregson is artfully textured with brushwork by … [+] master goldsmiths.Brooke Gregson
The golden and always capitalized GOLDRUSH moniker glows with the passion and warmth that its co-founders Valery Demure and Javier Goggins feel when viewing, wearing and promoting jewels by independent jewelry designers. From 29 February through 5 March, the two veteran jewelry business strategists are presenting 20 designers whose brands are either emerging, established or bona fide heritage firms. “We founded GOLDRUSH to establish the definitive jewelry showcase of Paris Fashion Week,” Goggins and Demure related, “and to promote independent designers so that they can connect with retail buyers and important media from around the world.”
GOLDRUSH presents an international array of jewellery designers who are guided by their highly individual visions, innovative use of precious metals and other materials, plus the highest artisanal standards. With a show staff that speaks fluent French, English, Spanish, Japanese, GOLDRUSH provides jewellery brands with access to a consistently updated database of international buyers, as well as professional sales, marketing and PR support.
Singapore-based State Property Jewellery’s Voyager Miura signet ring embodies restrained, … [+] gender-fluid lines, sparkling diamonds and an emerald.State Property
Intriguingly, the GOLDRUSH show is presenting jewels by two designers whose works are already enshrined in jewelry history. As Goggins put it, “We are showcasing “Hot Lips” jewels by Solange Azagury-Partridge because they are filled with color, joy and whimsy. We also love the fact that some of Solange’s designs are in the permanent jewelry collection of London’s Victoria and Albert Museum.” In a similar vein, the sinuously sculpted, sterling and gold jewels by Athens-based, heritage firm Minas Jewellery are launching to retailers from around the world during GOLDRUSH. (The late goldsmith Minas Spiridis started his brand in 1960s New York, designed jewels for Danish heritage firm Georg Jensen and relocated his business to Greece. Minas left extensive design archives and his widow Gina, and their two sons are carrying the brand into the future.)
On the more colorful end of the GOLDRUSH spectrum, Los Angeles-based Brooke Gregson’s one-of-a-kind,18-karat gold designs are alive with the kaleidoscopic hues that emanate from color-charged gemstones like opals, indicolite tourmalines, rhodochrosite and more. Working with goldsmiths, enamellers, stone setters and engravers in England and Los Angeles, Gregson’s intriguingly textured designs embody timeless style, precious substances and earthy chic.
During AW/24 Paris Fashion Week, the GOLDRUSH show is launching Paris-based Tamara Taichman’s very … [+] first collection: CUBIX.Tamara Taichman
Speaking of earthy chic, TAP by Todd Pownell is the Cleveland, Ohio.-based brand by goldsmith Todd Pownell and his wife Debra, whose experience is rooted in the European studio atelier practice and its artisanal jewelry traditions. Together, they carefully select each gemstone they set in their refined and romantic designs.
In the case of London-based Solange Azagury-Partridge, her miniature sterling silver “Hot Lips” rings are sculpturally amusing, artfully enameled, gender-fluid and highly appealing to one of the broadest jewelry audiences imaginable. As Azagury-Partridge noted, “The GOLDRUSH show is happening for the first time this Paris Fashion Ring and we wanted to be in on this. It’s an experiment for us.”
Equally color-obsessed is the San Antonio-based brand Cultus Artem, founded by designer and former private jeweler Holly Tupper, who creates 18-karat gold jewels set with diverse and important gemstones and pearls collected over several decades. Having created bespoke pieces for the King of Malaysia and other dignitaries, Tupper’s debut collection mixes textures and colors in worldly yet subtle compositions. “During GOLDRUSH, I’m looking forward to meeting with buyers from around the world,” Tupper noted.Bronze earrings by self-taught jeweler are the peak of organic chic.Julie Cohn
Paris-based Tamara Taichman is debuting her very first jewelry collection at the GOLDRUSH show. The former fashion editor’s exuberant CUBIX collection features necklaces comprised of vividly hued cubes of malachite, tiger’s eye, lapis lazuli and rhodochrosite, complemented by smoothly tumbled rose quartz and other gemstone beads. While the hardstone cubes bear diamond-set letters that spell out words like H-O-P-E and L-O-V-E, Taichman’s designs exude a quirky, carefree glamour that’s optimistic without looking like a pop psychology amulet.
Lynn Chamoun, the founder and designer of LYNSH, uses natural baroque pearls, diamonds and colorful gemstones to create asymmetrical and elongated silhouettes that give her jewelry a distinctive luster and surprising flow.GOLDRUSH is presenting “Hot Lips” enamel and sterling silver rings by Solange Azagury-Partridge.Solange Azagury-Partridge
GOLDRUSH is also featuring some notable designers in the realms of bronze and precious metals. For example, there is Dallas, Texas-based Julie Cohn, a self-taught jeweler whose minimalist pieces are fashioned in bronze. Cohn creates her elemental and elegant jewels by working directly with wax to create the molds, rather than sketching out designs. Because her collections consistently embody simple sculptural forms, her jewels offer myriad possibilities for layering, stacking and collecting.Onyx and 18-karat gold form the rolling, organic shapes of this “Su Wave” ring by London-based … [+] DILHAN.Dilhan
Designed by a recent graduate of Central Saint Martin’s College of Art, DILHAN, based in London, embodies sensuous shapes and organic forms in 18-karat gold jewels. Utilizing a range of colored gemstones, as well as compelling hard stones such as onyx, DILHAN offers a gender-fluid range of jewels that are as pleasing to the eye as they are ergonomically comfortable and quietly chic.Goldsmith Todd Pownell and his wife Debra are founders and Creative Directors of TAP by Todd … [+] Pownell.TAP by Todd Pownell
Hand-fabricated in Los Angeles, Paradise Feathers creates cosmopolitan fashion jewelry that embodies luxurious, minimal silhouettes. For instance, the brand’s Half Moon Bracelet is a 14-karat gold-plated brass cuff, with a black acrylic half moon, and a sterling silver rivet.
Another GOLDRUSH exhibitor is fashion jewelry designer Jennifer Behr, whose successful career as a luxury hair accessories designer was launched 15 years ago by Valery Demure. For this Paris Fashion Week show, Behr is presenting a fiercely festive, colorful array of jewels plus tiaras, headbands, barrettes and other adornments for the hair.Jennifer Behr’s earrings typify her perennially powerful color sense and love of festivity.Anthony Verde
Gleaming with a diverse array of offerings all in one central location, GOLDRUSH is looking to provide a place for jewelry discovery plus a welcome refuge from the hectic scramble that characterizes Paris Fashion Week. Considering today’s economic ups and downs, will the organizers be able to create a dynamic environment for designers, retail buyers and jewelry media under one roof? Only Time will tell, Goggins and Demure said. “We are committed to bringing the best of independent design to the most discerning international buyers and media. We would like Paris Fashion Week to shine a little brighter this year, and for years to come.”
source:https://www.forbes.com/sites/kyleroderick/2024/02/22/goldrush-jewelry-show-launches-during-aw-24-paris-fashion-week/
