{"id":3720,"date":"2021-02-17T19:16:37","date_gmt":"2021-02-17T13:46:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gjepc.org\/solitaire\/?p=3720"},"modified":"2021-02-17T19:28:28","modified_gmt":"2021-02-17T13:58:28","slug":"for-the-love-of-colour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gjepc.org\/solitaire\/for-the-love-of-colour\/","title":{"rendered":"For The Love Of Colour"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

New York jewellery designer Alexia Connellan<\/strong> is incorporating red hues and pearls into her new pieces.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

New York jeweller Alexia Connellan has expanded her collections with bright offerings. Her perception of beauty is influenced by her Jamaican heritage. She spent childhood summers visiting her grandmother in Jamaica. \u201cI was captivated by beauty from a very early age. Jamaicans love bright colours and the island is filled with colourful birds, flowers and heavenly scenery,\u201d she says. \u201cThis love of colour, beauty and balanced proportions came from my unique heritage and expresses itself in my jewellery design.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Alexia Connellan<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The award-winning Victoria bracelet, set with an exceptional unheated pink tourmaline, was inspired by Queen Victoria\u2019s 1897 Diamond Jubilee portrait.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Inspired by the beautiful curves of Christoper Wren\u2019s Dean\u2019s Staircase\u201d in London\u2019s St. Paul\u2019s Cathedral and the double helix of DNA, the Spiral earrings crafted in 18-karat pink gold set with pink Akoya pearls, pink morganite, pink sapphires and diamonds won the AGTA Award in the Classical category.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Classis design meets harmonious contemporary colour schemes in Alexia\u2019s eponymous line launched in 2016. \u201cI\u2019m greatly influenced by Georgian, Victorian and Art Nouveau jewellery design,\u201d she adds. Alexia uses \u201cethically sourced Artisanal and Small-Scale Mined (ASM) coloured gemstones and post-consumer recycled diamond melee\u201d in her work. The sourcing of the gemstones, she elaborates, has always been on her mind. \u201cBecause I was born in Jamaica, I was always aware of mining as an industry.\u201d She purchases older gemstones from other collectors, or gems that were recently mined but under better conditions for both the local people and the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The award-winning BIPOC designer tells us more:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What inspired you to become a jewellery designing?<\/strong>
It was a complete twist of fate that I ended up as a jewellery designer. I had worked in magazines in the photo department; I was a professional photographer for a few years and then ended up in tech because people kept offering me money to design their websites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While all of this was going on, I started collecting gemstones. I also started taking gemology classes at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), in New York, at night after work to learn more about the gems I had been collecting. I would stay and chat with the professor for hours after class was over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One night, he laid out five different green gems and asked me to identify them without using my gemmology book. They were green tourmaline, emerald, tsavorite garnet, sapphire and malachite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said: \u201cYou know very few people can do what you just did there. You should be a jewellery designer and stop working in tech. Can you draw?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I said: \u201cYes, I have an art degree.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He told me to apply to FIT\u2019s jewellery design program right away. I hesitated but soon found the courage I needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Floating Orb earrings in 18-karat yellow gold are patterned with\u00a0 pear Fancy Intense Yellow VVS2 pair, Fancy Intense Yellow melee, round deep golden South Sea pearls.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The Toi et Moi ring crafted with pink gold and platinum is set with diamond and pink sapphire melee. The finials feature unheated cushion pink and magenta spinel pair.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The Princess of Hearts Pendant set in 18-karat pink gold focuses on an unheated round pink spinel framed with diamond hearts. The pendant suspends from an 18-karat gold chain.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Shortly after that my father nearly died of a rare heart condition \u2013 non compaction cardiomyopity. The condition was found to be genetic; I had it. I had to consider what I really wanted to do with my life. Dying of sudden cardiac arrest during yet another boring meeting was not what I wanted. I took the professor\u2019s encouragement and knowledge of my own mortality and made the decision to apply to FIT\u2019s jewellery design program. I was accepted and have never looked back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What sparks your love for <\/strong>spinels, tourmalines, rubies and pink sapphires?<\/strong>
I love coloured gemstones of all types. Before these gems ended up in my designs, they were a part of my gemstone collection. I have over 300 gems. But I choose each one because something about that particular gem spoke to me. Usually, it\u2019s a combination of colour, cutting quality and rarity. I love well saturated gems that do not have a \u201cwindow\u201d or area that appears to be colourless due to shallow or overly deep cutting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you like about pearls?<\/strong>
I absolutely love pearls and always have. I love the way they almost glow from within and can achieve such a mirror-like finish that you can see your reflection in them. I also love all the variations in hues and intensity of their colours and undertones.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New York jewellery designer Alexia Connellan is incorporating red hues and pearls into her new pieces. New York jeweller Alexia Connellan has expanded her collections with bright offerings. Her perception of beauty is influenced by her Jamaican heritage. She spent childhood summers visiting her grandmother in Jamaica. \u201cI was captivated by beauty from a very…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3726,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[99,104],"tags":[],"thb-sponsors":[],"class_list":["post-3720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-design","category-features"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFor The Love Of Colour - Solitaire magazine is a International jewellery magazine - India\u2019s leading B2B gem and jewellery magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow\" \/>\n<meta name=\"googlebot\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"bingbot\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gjepc.org\/solitaire\/for-the-love-of-colour\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"For The Love Of Colour - Solitaire magazine is a International jewellery magazine - India\u2019s leading B2B gem and jewellery magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"New York jewellery designer Alexia Connellan is incorporating red hues and pearls into her new pieces. 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