In Rapaport Magazine December 2019, established jewelers single out the up-and-coming brands that have captured their attention.
ANDY LIF
Championed by: Dakota Badia, Buddha Mama
If you traipsed through the new-talent aisle at the Couture show in Las Vegas this year, you might well have come across the work of Andy Lifschutz, founder of the Andy Lif brand. If you did, no doubt his unusual plique-á-jour jewels made you look twice. If you didn’t, take note now, as his is a name to get excited about, according to Dakota Badia of Buddha Mama.
“Beautiful gemstones, color, stacking, and — of course — his amazing plique-á-jour enamel technique,” says Badia, reeling off some of the reasons she fell for Andy Lif.
Lifschutz had previously put out some collections of non-precious jewelry, which had done well, but it wasn’t until 2018 that he launched Andy Lif as we know it now.
This evolution, which he has developed in his studio in Los Angeles, California, has made him a master of 18-karat gold jewels that radiate color. His signature designs feature translucent plique-á-jour enamel windows, often edged with diamond pavé.
The shock of color that these stained-glass-like elements bring taps into the rainbow trend in jewelry today, lending renewed relevance to an ancient technique. They also make for a captivating play of light. Lifschutz has successfully added them to a wide selection of jewels, but Badia, who discovered the brand at Couture, most definitely has a favorite. “His enamel hoops,” she declares. “They are the best.”
While Andy Lif has hit on a niche with the enamel, the brand’s colored-gemstone designs should not be overlooked. Lifschutz works closely with gem cutters to develop proprietary cuts, and the result is unusual shapes of aquamarine, zircon, morganite and garnet so vibrant that they practically leap out of the settings.
“His gemstones are incredible,” agrees Badia, who now shares an agent with him — the EAB Project. “The collection flows beautifully.”
BRENT NEALE
Championed by: Bibi van der Velden
Jeweler Bibi van der Velden discovered Brent Neale Winston when she was on the hunt for new brands to sell through Auverture, the slick online retail platform she launched in 2016 to showcase independent jewelers. What caught her eye was the New York designer’s use of color and her sense of humor.
Winston, who is originally from Baltimore, Maryland, started her jewelry journey early, attending gem shows with her mother. The Brent Neale brand launched in 2017, but Winston was working in the industry long before that. After studying at the Fashion Institute of Technology, she honed her skills under Maurice Galli of Harry Winston. After that, she took a job with Kara Ross, where she eventually became jewelry director.
The jewels she now creates for herself are a culmination of all she’s learned, and in homage to the city that has given her access to such a rich tapestry of jewelry knowledge, she vows to keep all of her production in New York. Most days, you will find her on 47th Street, bustling among gem dealers, cutters and goldsmiths to oversee the creation of her artistic vision. Her playful offerings include Passageways pendants with shuttered doors of agate or turquoise; chunky Gypsy rings that submerge hefty cuts of diamonds in generous glops of glossy gold; malachite cut into the form of cannabis leaves for her Potted collection; and van der Velden’s personal favorite, the chubby Magic Mushroom pendants with silky gemstone inlay and cabochon spots.
“I really love the fun, humorous pieces that include lots of bold colors, and the fact that she incorporates materials in an unusual way,” says van der Velden. Besides Auverture, retailers such as Barneys and Moda Operandi have welcomed the brand as well.
KARMA EL KHALIL
Championed by: Selim Mouzannar
Selim Mouzannar first encountered New York jeweler and gemologist Karma El Khalil when the latter was just starting out in jewelry. The pair met in Beirut, where Mouzannar has his studio, and he has followed her career ever since.
“What I really like about her designs is the mix of geometric shapes, colored stones and diamonds,” says Mouzannar. “The sense of detail that she brings to her pieces — something that I believe is crucial in fine jewelry — is wonderful.”
Indeed, many Karma El Khalil jewels boast a hidden element that the designer has added just for the enjoyment of its owner, not the viewing pleasure of others.
El Khalil, who lived and studied in Nigeria, France and Italy before settling in New York, is not what you’d call a subtle jeweler. Each of her 18-karat gold pieces — no matter the scale — makes a statement. While feminine on the skin, each design seems to have an edge to it: Her diamond-studded starburst shapes are hinged and taper to a sharp end, and she chooses pointed trillion cuts to create large, lattice-like spreads of earrings. Her jewelry is pretty and sparkling, but also not to be messed with — much like the women who wear it, among them celebrities like Angelina Jolie, Madonna, Charlize Theron and Scarlett Johansson.
It is the Trilogy ring, a brushed gold triangle that creates a pleasingly geometric negative space, and the similar T cuff that have captured the attention of the A-listers. But Mouzannar favors another line.
“The collection of hers that I really enjoy is called Autumn,” he says. “In particular, there is a pair of gold Puzzle earrings with trillion-cut rubellites. I also like the Isosceles on Chains necklace, with its kite-shaped folds of rose gold, from [her collection] Rock Hall III.”
MAISON COCO
Championed by: Stephen Webster
With names like Eat Me Out, Lit As F#ck and U Sexy Motha Fuka, the jewelry creations of Colette Marie Neyrey’s Maison Coco are not for the faint-hearted. But would you expect any less when you ask rock ‘n’ roll’s favorite jeweler, Stephen Webster, for his pick of a rising star?
“Colette has a lot to get off her chest,” says Webster, fresh from seeing the provocative designer at the launch of her latest collection, Secret Société, at Dover Street Market in London. “Jewelry is her way of expressing what she needs to be said.”
Some of the California-based designer’s jewels say it like it is, with clearly legible phrases. Others are more subtle, such as her Foxy As F#ck pendant, in which a bejeweled Georgian fox head that was once part of a stick pin sits above a cursive “A” from a 1940s brooch and an “F” taken from a 1960s nameplate bracelet — all set with diamonds on a black onyx oval stripped from a Victorian jewel. This is the magic of Maison Coco jewels. The elements are not new, not simply engraved or made from scratch and soldered on. Each one is a found treasure.
“Like a magpie, she relentlessly trawls antique markets, auctions and vintage sites in search of religious, symbolic and even mourning jewelry that she uses as the foundation, the canvas for her pieces,” enthuses Webster. “Then she gets to work, adding, subtracting, coding until she has turned everything on its head and created something that can still appear vintage but is completely contemporary.”
Though Maison Coco only made its debut in 2016, Neyrey spent 17 years working as jeweler David Yurman’s executive style director. Now, the moment has come to present her own vision to the world. “Cheeky, profound or profanity, Colette’s pieces are emotionally charged and extraordinary,” says Webster. “One thing is for certain: Parental guidance is advised.”
LEGIER
Championed by: Spinelli Kilcollin
These days, Los Angeles is where it’s at for exciting jewelry design talent, and one of the latest creatives to emerge from this scene is Legier. The brand, which art historian and curator Legier Biederman founded in 2015, is a favorite of Dwyer Kilcollin and Yves Spinelli, the duo behind fellow LA jeweler Spinelli Kilcollin.
“We love this Los Angeles brand for their ethical practices and timeless architectural pieces,” says Spinelli. “They’ve expanded into a core aesthetic and created a whole world of finely tuned and inventive designs.”
Biederman, who holds a PhD in art history, takes her design cues from the landscape around her, inspired by the land art movement that was popular in the 1960s and 1970s. Her signet rings hold gemstones like chrysocolla and rhyolite, selected and cut to look like miniature paintings of the Californian sky or an aerial view of the dusky desert. Pendants on box chains feature diamonds set into rounds of Californian lapis lazuli, which
are imbued with pyrite flakes.
The Spinelli Kilcollin founders’ favorite Legier design is the Bubble Bezel
ring. These chunky gold rings are customizable, combining stones such as pink opal, peridot, tiger’s eye and pink tourmaline, as well as a vertical strip of five ethically sourced, channel-set diamonds for a retro west-coast vibe.
ELIZABETH STREET
Championed by: Polly Wales
Polly Wales is a designer who knows what sells. Her jewels, with their trademark submerged gems cast directly in gold rather than set, are both creatively exciting and commercially appealing. And this is exactly what she sees in Elizabeth Street, the fine-jewelry brand by New Orleans-born Katie Finn.
“Katie has been building her brand since I’ve become friends with her, about eight years ago,” says Wales. “She is not only a highly skilled bench jeweler, she has the vision and tenacity to turn those skills into beautiful jewelry that everyone wants to get their hands on.”
Los Angeles-based Elizabeth Street teeters somewhere between an organic, hand-hewn look and something a little more polished. Colored diamonds, often in rose cuts or inverse settings, are the stars of the collections, but Finn also sets bright emeralds and tourmalines in gold.
Alternative bridal jewelry is a big part of what Elizabeth Street does, and private commissions have been stacking up. Encouraged by this, Finn has moved into wholesale and has, as Wales puts it, “effortlessly” secured some of the US’s most exciting jewelry retailers, including Twist in Portland, Oregon, Sailor in Chicago, Illinois, and OK in Los Angeles.
“It’s been so wonderful to watch her business really blow up over the last year, and I know this is just the start,” says Wales. “What I love about Katie is that she has a truly pure and genuine heart, and it shows in her work. Each of her reinterpretations of classical forms has a gentle, well-considered twist that makes her pieces so unique. It’s been a joy to see how in love with her jewelry her new retail accounts are, and as with all the best designers, this is a reflection of the marriage of personality and creativity.”
Main image (clockwise): Andy Lifschutz, Brent Neale Winston, Karma El Khalil, Colette Marie Neyrey, Legier Biederman and Katie Finn.
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