Gem Trends
By Deborah A. Yonick
Gem Trends from Tucson meet Pantone
Trends tracked at the recent gem and jewelry shows in Tucson and Scottsdale, Arizona, favor blues, greens, and earth tones in baubles with mixed, layered, and blackened metals-all designed to maximize style and minimize price point. Gem slices, cabochon cuts, organic shapes, and rough stones were among the favorites. The following is a highlight of the most sought after gems categorized under the Fall 2012 Pantone Colors to which they relate.
Pantone Fall 2012 Color: Olympian Blue
Complementary Gemstones: sapphire, aquamarine, blue topaz, blue zircon, chalcedony, and lapis
Designer Spotlight: Inspired by the minimalism of French artist Yves Klein, Petra Class of San Francisco sets large organic shapes of lapis in 18k gold with diamonds. "Lapis has that same deep, saturated blue that sucks you in and seduces the eye," she says. "The combination of high karat gold and lapis is irresistible."
Pantone Fall 2012 Colors: Ultramarine Green and Bright Chartreuse
Complementary Gemstones: emerald, green onyx, demantoid garnet, chrome tourmaline, jadeite jade, and green chalcedony, agate, and zircon
Designer Spotlight: Seattle designer Shamila Jiwa uses green onyx to offer an emerald alternative to the average consumer. Her green onyx almond drop earrings won an emerging designer award at the Centurion Show in Scottsdale. "It’s a color that pops," she says. "Its vibrancy is not tiresome to the eye. It energizes the spirit." She notes that it would be impossible to offer this magnificent shade of green at such a price point ($650 to $750) using 40 to 50 carats of custom-cut emeralds, which would cost millions.
Pantone Fall 2012 Colors: French Roast and Titanium
Complementary Gemstones: whiskey quartz, smoky quartz, chocolate diamonds, black sapphires, onyx, and jade
Manufacturer Spotlight: Earthy gems give great value because of their versatility, says Duvall O’Steen for Yvel of Israel. The company’s latest line pairs 18k gold with smoky quartz. "Gems in the brown and green family, especially when set in warm precious metals, complement a range of skin tones, from tan and olive complexions to fair skin types with reddish hair and/or green eyes," she says. "And, with all the neutrals in the fashion palette, earth tone accessories are the perfect adornment."
Bold and Beautiful: Colors Brighten for Spring 2012
When searching for gemstones to incorporate into your fashion-friendly lines for spring, make bold statements with sapphire, tourmaline, garnet, and quartz-gems that offer a great variety of colors. For a classic maritime feel with a calming effect, consider the great anchor color of blue in gems such as turquoise, lapis, iolite, topaz, and spinel. Reach for pearls to convey a sense of hope and simplicity in tones that complement the season’s top colors.
"Blue is a perennial favorite, with sapphire still riding the Kate Middleton wave," says Douglas Hucker, CEO of the American Gem Trade Association (AGTA). The AGTA’s annual Spectrum Design Awards Competition, which highlights colored stone jewelry, is a great barometer of popular gems for the season. "Greens and yellows have overshadowed the pastels that predominated the last couple of years, and red has emerged as this year’s darling."
Among the most popular gems set in Spectrum designs this year were aquamarine, moonstone, chalcedony, ruby, rubellite, and cognac and gray diamonds.
Hucker also cites a big trend back to color blocking in fashion-combining two or more blocks of color in an ensemble. "Simply it means creating a look by putting areas of solid color next to each other," he says. "It can include monotone, bright colors, muted colors, and contrasting and complementary colors."
Popular color blocks in Spectrum entries featured a variety of green gems paired with stones in shades of blue, orange, red, and purple. Combinations included aquamarine and blue moonstone, peridot and sapphire, chrome tourmaline and amethyst, and labradorite and paraiba tourmaline.
The Spectrum Awards, describes Hucker, are a jeweler’s first look at the colors and materials that are going to be showing up as trends for the upcoming 12 to 18 months. "The designers who enter our competition really have their finger on the pulse of what’s happening with color in fashion and other industries," he says. "They do a magnificent job of translating those trends into jewelry creations."
Swarovski Forecast: 2012 Is the Year of Design Innovation
In its annual trends report, "Gem Visions," Swarovski forecasts a watershed in the evolution of contemporary jewelry design for 2012, as the industry breaks from its nostalgic yearning to focus on innovative approaches for the future.
In a presentation sharing the findings of its annual trends research, the Wattens, Austria–based genuine and created stone brand categories the main spirit that will drive design in 2012 as "neo-tradition," a radical integration of past, present, and future that offers a new take on heritage, according to the trends report.
"As we move out of a period of consolidation and classicism, heightened awareness will motivate design to explode with innovation, characterized by technical and artistic wizardry," described Nancy Leach, public relations and senior consultant gem creative for Swarovski. "This new design language embraces and integrates past traditions through ingenuity, innovation, and breathtaking creativity, all underlined by profound emotional values."
The five key directions in this mega trend are:
Studio. A new and poetic anti-industrial expression of vintage, heirloom, and heritage. The style is a soft, soulful aesthetic with an emotional quality, showing the mark of the maker. Handmade and simple yet polished with elegant refinement, this direction is inspired by studio pottery with a reference to 1950s modernity and iconic sophistication. The color palette incorporates neutrals, fruity tones, and retro combinations, with interesting textures among its key concepts.
Fantasy. An extraordinary, rich, imaginary universe of hyper reality, mastering the art of illusion. Elaborate, intricate, and embellished, this trend explores modern opulence for the courageous consumer—an out-of-the-box thinker keen on expressing individuality. The color palette incorporates deep intense jewel tones such as green, violet, orchid, and cameo pink, with key concepts embracing gardens of magnified flora and fauna.
Fiction. A sci-fi bent that delivers a dark glamour of gleaming futuristic tribal warriors—primitive and earthy, yet connected to couture. Skeletal structures and bones, myths and legends, and extraterrestrial beings influence this style made for the adventurous jewelry wearer: Think Lady Gaga. Color schemes are earthy, with orange and red accents, or night sky shades of black and gray. Key concepts include mystic voodoo, tribal style, and stellar constellations.
Luminescence. Radical minimalism centered around the power of light. This direction includes reducing, simplifying, and streamlining silhouettes to reach an architectural, geometric, essential purity illuminated by bright neon colors and fluorescent rainbow effects with clashing contrasts. Think ’90s retro techno with a clean, modernized, industrial touch, appealing to consumers who are young or young at heart. Key concepts embrace digital motifs, rough luxe, and graduated light.
Nouvelle Vague. A direction devoted to zirconia and its particular qualities, this retro-modernist, cinematic, sleek, timelessly classic, and androgynous style celebrates sartorial perfection and impeccable cut. Featuring a black and white color palette, it appeals to the smart, classic dresser with a modern affinity and an intellectual and artistic streak who aspires to statement diamond jewelry.
Jewelry photos, from top: Platinum earrings featuring removable opal enhancers accented with blue zircons, tanzanites, Paraiba tourmalines, and diamonds, by Deirdre Featherstone; Studio, Fantasy, and Luminescence rings courtesy of Swarovski; ruby ring by Sylvie Levine; tsavorite ring by Omi Gems; stackable rings by Sethi Couture.
Deborah A. Yonick writes the monthly Gem News column for MJSA Journal.