PAD London attracted art and jewellery aficionados shopping for the latest one-off high jewellery designs and luxury items for the home.
Taking place in a white marquee specially erected in Berkeley Square in the heart of Mayfair, from October 14-19, PAD London showcased contemporary designs from an array of high jewellers, including Glenn Spiro, Boghossian, Hemmerle, Fernando Jorge and Elie Top.
Gallery offerings from Carpenters Workshop, Seconde Petale, and Karry Berreby, included a wider assortment of designers, such as London-based artist-jeweller Ute Decker, and Ukraine’s Inesa Kovalova, who has shown her work regularly at GemGenève in recent years.
Interspersed among the jewellery were objects of art, paintings, sculptures, furniture and lighting, specially designed by some of the world’s leading designers for upscale homes.
PAD London attracts collectors of art and jewellery who also visit the Frieze art shows taking place in the city at the same time.
The jewellers’ booths were crammed with collectors and aficionados from the private preview onwards, presenting an eclectic choice of luxury pieces to buyers, many of whom had flown in for London’s autumnal art buying season.
The jewellery presented at PAD London was an extraordinary variety of outstanding, mainly contemporary designs featuring precious materials, diamonds, coloured gemstones, and unusual materials, such as varieties of wood.
Standouts at the show included a heavy black Swirl Witches ring, with spiky diamonds, by Paris-based designer Alina Alamorean; and architecture-inspired jewellery by Mumbai-based VAK Jewels.
Jewellery highlights also included:
Elie Top, who presented heraldic bracelets and pendants in gold, yellow gold, and silver; snake and chameleon–shaped rings set with old mine cut diamonds, rubellites, emeralds, yellow sapphires, and other repurposed stones; and precious crosses, in tune with the latest trends for these symbols, seen as offering reassurance to the wearer during turbulent times.
Hemmerle presented striking material combinations, unusual, rare woods and treasure-hunted artefacts, and structural pieces with geometric lines. At Hemmerle’s only atelier, all jewels are made on-site, where master craftspeople continue to research and develop multiple crafts from patina development to stone setting.
Boghossian showcased its signature Kissing technique, involving the setting of two gemstones so that they appear to embrace each other, with minimal visible gold to allow light to flow freely between them. A notable standout at PAD London this year was a pair of one-off earrings by Boghossian featuring pink tourmalines and velvety blue tanzanite.
Fernando Jorge’s creations stand out for their sense of line and movement, instinctive use of colour and striking contrasts of natural and refined materials.
His jewellery blends the sensuality and vibrant warmth of his homeland Brazil with the refinement and rebellious spirit of style of his present home in Britain.
Artist-jewellers spoke at the show of their concerns about how to adapt to soaring gold prices, which are leading some designers to look at using alternative materials, such as copper or silver, even iron, and to add thinner layers of gold to designs.
After a 27% rise last year, bullion prices are up by more than 50% so far this year, hitting a series of all-time highs in October, powered by “safe haven” investor buying, trade tensions linked to tariffs, central bank buying, a climate of easing US monetary policy, and a large inflow of cash into physically backed gold exchange traded funds (ETFs).
For the glitterati milling about the corridors of PAD London, the soaring gold price may not be a major concern, however, as they seek to top up their high jewellery collections and items for their homes with the latest exceptional one-off creations.