I was inspired by some classic Arabic palm motifs and came up with these earrings. Using white and natural fancy colored diamonds what resulted were these fascinating danglers. Timeless with a twist.

Here’s another bespoke piece; and a redesign project as well. All round and carre cut diamonds were from an old necklace that wasn’t being used anymore. And so it was decided to recreate the piece as a pair of earrings. What resulted were these gorgeous danglers with pave diamond centers and square and round diamonds radiating at the sides.

The Va Bene Hello Kitty watch is now available at Aum Jewels! Comes in this cute limited edition box.

Almost metallic, lustrous peacock freshwater pearls in rose gold and rhodolite garnet pave set in oxidized silver strung on some nicely hued faceted ruby beads. The pearl branches go most of the way around and actually creates the illusion of volume. Big on impact but light-weight and easy to wear. Comes with a coordinating pair of earrings. Perfect for the nearing February 14 Valentine’s/Chinese New Year celebrations.

Currently available at Firma Greenbelt 3 as part of the Triad/Futurism collection.

Late last year, Kristine Dee, Michelline Syjuco and I talked about putting a group exhibit and decided to work around the theme of futurism.  I can’t believe its been almost a year since that first meeting. The exhibit opening will be next week, October 22 at Firma Greenbelt 3, 6pm. I have to say I haven’t designed an entire collection in a few years and I’m really excited about my pieces. I’ve seen previews of Michelline’s and Kristine’s and all the more I believe this is going to be a really interesting show in terms of Philippine jewelry design. There will be over 100 one-of-a-kind pieces altogether.

Our work centers on the following theme:

What is futurism?

Being forward thinkers, jewelry artists Michelline Syjuco, Kristine Dee and Paul Syjuco discussed the theme of futurism and came up with several concepts. For them it meant progress with a deep-seated respect for the past. It meant concern for the common good by doing things a little bit better along the way. It also meant, most importantly, creating new things with imagination and creativity.

The different design eras and paradigms expressed the future in different ways. The early twenties to forties envisioned the future rife with airplanes and flight as well as abstraction. Mid-century futurism contained visions of monorails and superhighways. There seemed to be a fixation with organic alien life forms, lasers, UFOs and space exploration in the sixties and seventies as well as parallel universes of mythical beings and objects in the eighties. However, these “Retro-futurist” pegs aren’t exactly what the artists pay tribute to. It is the constant attempt to experiment. It is the pushing of the mind to create concepts of external objects not present to the senses. And while we all know that most concepts of the past didn’t quite make the cut, being relegated to archives at best, it is the spirit of creativity and resourcefulness that is held high. After all, a lot of our perceived realities now were long ago only considered fantasies.

For portfolios and backgrounds on artists please check our individual sites:

www.paulsyjuco.com

www.kristinedee.com

www.michellinesyjuco.com

In addition, Resturant Cicou’s executive chef Cyrille Soenen will be preparing French desserts inspired by the jewelry pieces during the event.

Again, exhibit opening will be at 6pm, October 22, 2009 at Firma Greenbelt 3 and pieces will exclusively be displayed till Sunday, October 25. After which, only select pieces will remain in store.

Aum Jewels now carries Vabene Watches in store. Vabene is an Italian fashion brand that churns out all these great looking watches.

Chronograph series. Polycarbonate, mineral glass and plated stainless steel.

I personally love the Adesso line. Basically because its a huge watch. But also because its automatic. Comes with a sleek, black silicon strap.

The Mondo Piranha series I also like. Giant bezel (at over 40mm), nice heft and a sporty black rubber strap.

Here’s the Malibu series in white and gold. Nice and clean. 40mm bezel as well.

Forbidden Fruit series. A little quirky, yes. I guess some people can get away with wearing this. Pink polycarbonate.

Here’s more about the brand:

“VABENE has a solid foundation behind its fashion facade. VABENE is founded by Grimoldi family, a family with profound knowledge in high end watch making and traditional Italian jewellery craftsmanship. The design of VABENE is original Italian style, with innovative ideas and originality, focus always on the sharpest fashion and art edge. VABENE is the creative pioneer of design and styling for watches.

VABENE is AFFORDABLE LUXURY and as the brand name indicates: VABENE represents the Italian way of living – a fun lifestyle incorporating fashion, art, love, and good sense for everything that is going around us.”

See more watches in store at Aum Jewels now!

or check out www.Vabene.it for more 2009 models.

I love how pretty straight-forward this piece is; highlighting only the gems used (…which should, bottom-line, highlight the wearer). Colorless rose cut sapphires and diamonds set in white gold. The pear shaped drops are detachable just in case you want to change it up a bit. It’s a real head turner.