PAD London, a prestigious annual gathering for art and design collectors, which ran from 8th -13th October 2024, featured extraordinary jewellery from top end designers, incorporating unusual blends of materials.
The show, located in Berkeley Square in Mayfair, is a magnet for collectors of art, furnishings and interior design, and high-end designer jewellery, coinciding with the Frieze art fair in London, another showcase for collectors.
Celebrated jewellers such as Boghossian, Hemmerle and Glenn Spiro exhibited again this year at the show, which attracted a cosmopolitan elite of collectors seeking the latest and most unique design creations.
The event abounded with elegant stands featuring gorgeous new styles in home design furnishings, contemporary art, including Banksy, as well as high jewellery.
An elegant coffee shop in the marquis was a place for collectors and Instagrammers to take a brief refuge from the beautiful pieces all around, and to network and chat about the highlighted items at the show.
Spotlight on Unusual Jewellery
On display were some offbeat designs featuring a blend of unconventional materials.
Boghossian showcased pieces linked to historical, cultural themes. Their jewellery was inspired by “Regency Residence” – Brighton Pavilion, a Georgian extravaganza, which captivates with its Indo-Islamic architecture.
Georgian-inspired jewellery designs are currently fashionable, aided by the success of the Bridgerton Netflix series.
Munich-based Hemmerle presented earrings in hand-sculpted anodised aluminium set with extremely rare natural pearls, and a selection of jewellery set with natural fancy colour diamonds.
Glenn Spiro, a London-based designer who has an ultra-high net worth international clientele, presented a pair of “Sunrise” earrings in blue titanium set with a total of 40 carats of premium fine white diamonds.
As well as his contemporary pieces, Glenn Spiro also loves to blend antique and contemporary inspiration. His stand presented a necklace featuring an antique Baoulé disc in 9-carat gold, contrasting with an exquisite Colombian emerald weighing more than 61 carats, and fancy-cut diamonds and colourless single-cut round diamonds, a true “showstopper” piece.
Visitors to the so-called “Super Jewellers” stand curated by respected London-based jewellery design visionary Valerie Desmurs, stumbled on some exceptional pieces that combine unusual materials.
From India, Studio Renn, who have a reputation for delivering highly unusual designs, showed off their “Puffball Voids” earrings, featuring 18-karat grey gold, made from an alloy developed in-house using palladium, set with natural diamonds and keshi pearls.
The Unforget decorative arts stand revealed a selection of 1940s and 1950s jewellery designs by Line Vautrin, a number of which sold at the start of the show.
Carpenters Jewellery presented a selection of specially commissioned pieces by respected designers including UK-based Alice Cicolini.
Footfall to PAD London was vibrant right up to the end of the latest edition, underscoring the growing appeal of the show to collectors from around the world.