Founders Chloë Woodmansterne and Kayla Rimmon of Aril Jewels in London collaborated with Fuli Gemstones on a peridot tiara and a ring.
London-based brand Aril Jewels has only been around since 2022, but in this short time, they have managed to collaborate with Chinese mining company Fuli Gemstones to create a stunning tiara that transforms into a necklace.
The brand’s founders, Chloë Woodmansterne and Kayla Rimmon, decided to combine friendship with their shared love of antique designs, gorgeous gemstones, and amazing craftsmanship. The duo met when they both worked at Hirsh London, a Mayfair jeweller. “We stayed friends after Chloë went to work for another workshop and then eventually decided to start Aril Jewels,” says Kayla, a jewellery designer.
Chloë studied gemmology and diamond grading at the Gem-A in London and then went on to do a history degree, while also pursuing a career in jewellery. Chloë’s leans in on her expertise and sharp eye for high quality gemstones and diamonds that are full of character and life.
After learning the basics in a studio in Los Angeles, Kayla studied jewellery design at Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York. “The first year, I learned bench skills like soldiering, wax carving, and piecing and sawing techniques, in addition to design skills like technical drawings and painted rendering. During my second year, I focused and honed my skills in the design area, mastering hand-painted renderings.” After FIT, Kayla did an Art History degree in New York and worked for various jewellery designers and brands, before moving back to London.
Chloë, meanwhile, worked in various aspects of the jewellery industry before she joined Hirsh London as a stock controller.
The designers walk us through their love of jewellery and journey so far:
Tell us a bit about yourselves.
Kayla: I was born and raised in Los Angeles. I come from large and warm family where creativity was always encouraged. My mom, aunt, and sisters all have a creative flair in them, whether it’s through cooking, crafting, writing, other art forms. My particular creative niche has always been expressed through jewellery design. I am so lucky to have parents who have always encouraged me to pursue my passion and been very supportive of my dreams.
Chloë: I was born and raised in St. Albans. I particularly love Georgian design and hidden meanings and symbolism in jewellery. I come from a musical, artistic family, who are all obsessed with antiques and history. After showing a particular passion for fine jewellery from a young age, they have always encouraged me to pursue it and make it my career.
How do leverage on your distinct skills?
Kayla: I was the in-house jewellery designer at Hirsh London for about five-and-a-half years. My skills and creativity as a jewellery designer paired with Chloë’s expert gemmology eye and production background enables us to create any kind of jewellery under the sun. We specialise a lot in bespoke pieces — I work with the client on design ideas, while Chloë works to source the gems. Each individual piece is accompanied by a hand-painted rendering done by me for the client to keep.
Chloë: After about four years at Hirsh London, I went on to become workshop coordinator at another Mayfair-based workshop. My background in jewellery craftsmanship , honed through extensive experience in workshop and jewellery production, ensures that each of our piece is made exactly to our specifications.
What does the name Aril mean?
Kayla: An aril is the faceted, jewel-like seed of a pomegranate. Pomegranates are ancient symbols of love, marriage, fertility, and abundance. When a pomegranate is given as an offering, it shows the best of intentions from one heart to another. As there is often hidden meaning in our pieces, we loved this aspect that an Aril Jewel would have an extra layer of meaning.
What defines your core design aesthetics?
Kayla: Aril Jewels at its core, is historically inspired. Not only by historical jewellery designs but also design motifs in decorative arts, textiles, and culture. We have three distinct collections all inspired by different periods of history and named after iconic women from their time. We also love using traditional and historical techniques to create our pieces, both for our bespoke clients and for our collection pieces.
Chloë: Attention to detail is seen in everything we do, and one of our core aesthetics is hidden details just for the wearer or tiny details in the settings. At the heart of every collection is joyful, colourful gem combinations. Our vision behind Aril Jewels was to create incredibly special, future heirlooms that symbolise life’s most precious moments with thoughtful and joyful details. We wanted to take the best aspects of antique jewellery — craftsmanship, quality, and design — and make jewellery that’s not only very wearable for every day, but also is made to last for years to come.
What made you use recycled gold and platinum?
Kayla: Working with modern clients, we understand that people no longer want their jewellery to cost the earth. Wherever possible we work with recycled materials and would love to expand this further as we grow. Our love of old cut diamonds, which have been recycled from antique pieces of jewellery, comes partially from their unique charm but also the opportunity to give these old diamonds another life in a beautiful piece of jewellery.
What inspired the three collections, Clara, Georgiana and Elizabeth?
Kayla: Our work is centred around breathing new life into historical designs, making them more wearable for modern women. Our debut collections are historically inspired by three distinct periods of history — Elizabethan, Georgian, and Art Deco. Each collection is named after iconic women from these periods, reflecting our desire as young female entrepreneurs to champion female empowerment. Bright and joyful gemstone colour combinations are central to each collection.
Our Clara Collection is inspired by Clara Bow, a flapper from the Art Deco period. This has clean lines, geometric shapes rendered with tapered baguettes and old-cut diamonds in millegrain rub over settings. The target rings are a classic Art Deco silhouette but have been updated with interesting and unusual gemstone colour combinations.
Chloë: The Georgiana Collection is inspired by Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire from the Georgian period. This collection predominantly uses cut-down setting, a traditional setting style that evokes the Georgian period. We have developed an acrostic collection of pieces (where the first letter of each gemstone spells a word), modernising the design so it’s wearable as necklaces and bracelets. Each design has a star motif, reflecting the Age of Enlightenment. Some larger statement earrings, which are convertible into pendants, are currently in production.
Our Elizabeth Collection is inspired by Elizabeth I and the Cheapside Hoard. This collection incorporates delicate floral motifs that were incredibly popular at the time and the symbol of the rose, symbolising love. The Rose ring is feminine, and we recently expanded the collection to include multiple iterations for different tastes.
Tell us about your collaboration with Fuli Gemstones
Kayla: One of the reasons we have so enjoyed working with Fuli is that their environmental credentials are very exciting, creating a source for peridot that is fully traceable. The collaboration is a natural progression since I was awarded ‘Gold’ in the peridot tiara design category at the Goldsmiths GCDC awards, of which Fuli Gemstones was a Principal Patron, in March 2023, and continues to be into 2024.
The tiara features 9-marquise-cut, 2 pear-cut and 1 half-moon-cut Fuli peridots, accented with aquamarines, amethysts, and pink tourmalines, accompanied by 259 white diamonds, weighing 6.56 carats. The frame is set in platinum and 18-karat gold. The tiara also converts into a necklace providing the opportunity to wear it at less formal occasions. The design celebrates peridot’s symbolism and connection with ancient Egyptians, who called peridot the gem of the sun; they believed the gemstone symbolised hope, rebirth and life. Therefore, the synergy between the lotus flower and peridot is a harmonious partnership.
Fitting of this era, is another piece that we designed — the ‘Clara’ target ring. It features Fuli’s peridot as the central gemstone, surrounded by incredible blue sapphires. The tiara is the first piece of high jewellery piece to be made, but we have other, what we consider to be, high jewellery pieces that are in the works and will be launching them soon.