Every year Solitaire, a regional gems and fine jewelry magazine and sister publication of Tatler, publishes a list of South East Asia's notable jewelers in a special directory called Brilliant Jewellers. Aum Jewels is grateful to be part of this year's edition. Its bundled with the December-January issue of Solitaire, available at magazine stands now.
Below is the short write-up:
Humbled to be in great company.
My, my. December already! I hope it's turned/turning out to be a good year for everyone despite recent "interesting" international events these past months.
New in store:
Golden tree coral bracelet base with quite a multitude of colored gems. Pink, purple and green amethysts, turquoise, white and blue topaz and rose quartz set in textured vermeil. I love this.
I wouldn't say its a holiday collection but I just delivered a few new items at Firma Greenbelt 3. One being this Orbita Necklace. Rock crystal quartz and vermeil oversized "orbits". Space-age and very Wilma Flintstone at the same time.
Glad to have two items on the Metro Gift Guide this year. Unfortunately there are some errors on the labeling. The orange/mexican fire opal ring is actually my design. It was labeled as Kristine Dee's, who should also have had a piece featured. Her collections are available at Aum Jewels as well.
The other piece is a multi-color beryl rough necklace with pastel colored Indian tourmalines set in rose gold plated silver. It was penned in as an aquamarine rough necklace. I attached a more detailed picture of it below:
Quite nice for those upcoming Christmas events...
Here's something really interesting, and most significant for my brand, I think. A client of mine gave me the task of making a ring with very specific details. First was that when set, the stone, an emerald, should touch his skin. Second was to put the "Aum Mani Padme Hum" mantra in the outer and inner shanks of the ring; making it also touch the skin. Third was that he wanted some detail of a dragon (or dragons) at the sides. And what resulted was this:
carvings in, out and around
special window for the emerald
One of the most engaging and personal pieces I've designed for some time. While the shape of the ring in itself is quite simple, what brought extra vivacity to it was the detailed engraving of the mantras and the dragons. No rubber molds or anything; everything done by hand. The quality and workmanship is really incomparable as opposed to mass produced ones; if you can find anything like this that is.
Here's a matinee length necklace in white agate, carnelian and textured vermeil. The vermeil sections can also be done in gold. But regardless of material, it definitely won't leave you wanting for impact.
Here's a seemingly simple piece that looks not-so-simple when you take a better look. Gold weaving is actually not a new thing in jewelry but the designs associated with it are sort of hackneyed (in my humble opinion). Often literally shaped into forms where you'd expect some weaving done like abanicos (woven fans) or bahay kubos (nipa huts), then adding several other elements...generally, the designs tends to go overboard. Here we wanted to highlight the technique per se of woven gold. Done in the right size and proportion it just resonates subdued elegance. Had we have woven with finer strips I think we might have ended up with a more cloth-like texture.....now that's another idea to look into.
*Photo by Paolo Feliciano
Earrings again fit for a bride. Or just some everyday shopping. (It seems there are people who either buy jewelry and keep them in safety deposit boxes and those who wear them every chance they get. But that's another story altogether.) I use all these colored gems and minerals for my designs but there really is just something about DIAMONDS. So white and sparkly. So tantalizing. Especially when it moves with the wearer.
It's out in the stands right now but official launch will be this week. What a great addition to the local magazine titles available locally. Some snapshots of my wedding last April are featured in the inaugural issue. Including the brooch I designed specifically for the/my bride to wear on the big day. Not a lot of this Edwardian jewelry style is made today because of the great deal of labor involved. But as you can see, the end product is an important and timeless piece that will last generations. Such intricacy; a great amount of detail can be seen in the picture below (the photo's quite tiny in the magazine so here's a bigger view).
*Edwardian brooch of diamonds and Tahitian drop pearls in white gold. approximately 100cm x 130cm.
It's amazing how much lore there is associated with coral. Being red, its supposed to bring one warmth and love; fertility and energy. Most commonly worn to protect one from evil spirits or negative forces. Quite popular on babies.
Above are fine natural specimens. Untreated. Intense, unaltered color. Set in textured rose and white gold with diamonds.
*photographed by Paolo Feliciano
