Jewellery designers share their most precious personal pieces

Jewellery is unique for its transformative and evocative powers, a feeling especially resonant for jewellers for whom their creations - from alternative engagement rings to showstoppers - have always been inextricable with meaning. Below, we speak to established and new jewellers around the world who value both sustainability and strong design, asking them to snap a picture at home and share with us their most treasured pieces.

Annette Welander

Our pieces  are designed to be balanced in terms of ergonomics, variety and quality. We’re continuously pushing the limits of our jewellery innovation. I often seek inspiration from architecture with the variation of its form to develop designs that offers unique perspectives from different angles. Our team stems from different professions, from Architects to designers and poets. We strive to find a  balance of time, form and function with a freedom of expression and design. Annette Welander Jewelry have set up the highest requirements when it comes to sustainability of our brand. All our designs are unique and have a series of control marks guaranteeing Swedish origin and the purity of the metal, as well as the ethical sourcing for all of the precious metals and gems we use. The Lemniscate ring boasts a feminine and sinuous form that I have come to wear every day.

Annette Welander is a Swedish design house founded in Stockholm, known for its minimalist and sculptural jewellery

Discover Annette's jewellery here

 Christie Wollenberg, Otiumberg co-founder

We designed our Name Bracelets after my first child was born. I wanted something to wear everyday in solid gold which was subtle enough to never take off but would make me feel close to them whenever I wasn’t with them. I now have three children and wear all three bracelets every day and the kids all know that I have them on me. They are incredibly special heirloom pieces designed to be passed down.

Otiumberg was founded in 2016 by sisters Rosanna and Christie Wollenberg

Pick up your own personalised piece here

Catherine Sarr, Almasika

One of my most cherished jewelry pieces is my Ibeji Ring, which means twins. My twin girls and the sacred nature of twins were the inspiration behind the design. This ring is also meaningful because it’s an extension of the first collection I designed, Le Cauri Endiamanté. I love to wear it as a part of an everyday, sculptural ring stack as an adornment and memento of my twins and family. I can’t wait to see my girls wearing their own Ibeji Rings when they grow up. 

Catherine Sarr is the founder of the Chicago-based fine jewellery brand

Almasika jewellery is available here

Liv Luttrell

I love my paravent earrings: they make me feel confident and bold. I don't think they are particularly showy but they do get noticed. I think that the domed shape makes them look quite chunky but they are in fact extremely light to wear. The Florentine hand engraving on the surface gives them a beautiful lustre and a texture that is quite unique. I have different pieces of jewellery that I wear for different occasions but these I can wear at any time.

London-based Liv Luttrell is celebrated for her minimalist designs.

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Anissa Kermiche

I love the geometry and lightness about this earring, the morganite that floats in the middle of the circular arch has this elegant yet simple look that I can wear day or night time and makes me feel festive whatever the mood is.

Annisa Kermiche brings a playfulness to interiors and accessories

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Hannah Martin

I can't leave the house without my full stack of ear gold! My right ear has grown its collection over the years and I love that it tells the stories of my jewellery lines. I have to keep adding piercings to accommodate new pieces as I design them and fall in love with them. These earrings act as both armour and an expression of self. The combination of the quite hard punk look, made from rich, sensual yellow gold and pearls - for me this is everything about what I make and who I am. And that is what the essence of jewellery is! The way you, as an individual, choose the pieces for your collection and then the way you put them together is a very personal, intimate form of expressing a part of yourself. It’s one of the things I love most about being a jewellery designer - giving this process to people.

Punk meets chic in Hannah Martin's super-cool jewellery designs

Discover her piercing service here

Bea Bongiasca

The most prized jewels are the ones that have a intrinsic meaning to you. My mother paid the first instalment for the little baguette diamond ring with her first ever pay check when she was 19 years old. So she gave it to me as a good luck present when I started my company. The Lavender enamel and diamond ring took a lot of attempts and a lot of patience to perfect technically so I decided to keep it as a ‘never give up’ token! 

Bea Bongiasca's colourful jewellery coils around the body for sculptural accessories

See the pieces here

Valery Demure

‘I could have sent you a picture of my engagement ring, or my pendants by Francesca Villa, but I am sending you this one-of-a-kind rock crystal carved ring. It has an 18ct gold pendant with enameled flowers and tiny diamonds and is by Alice Cicolini. It was instant love when I saw it at the studio of Assat Kumar (Alice’s enamel artist) in Jaipur. I had never ever seen anything like this in jewellery, and I had never expected to fall in love so madly with India. I really felt moved and bedazzled by this ring; at the time it was just a carved rock crystal dome with a plaque of gold metal on which were drawn small flowers and I asked Alice if I could have it set as a ring. I grew obsessed with it for months, I could only think of this ring, there were no other jewels in my wishlist. This ring whilst confined takes me back to wondrous India.’

Valery Demure is celebrated for her spot-on jewellery eye

See her curation here 

Shaun Leane

‘I recently crafted this rose gold, black diamond and onyx seal ring for myself as a symbol of a very important turning point in my life. The ring holds personal inscriptions and symbolism for the future. The beauty of jewellery is that it can hold memories and remind us of our strengths – to wear jewellery and feel it is a constant comfort in these times.’

Shaun Leane's punk, precious designs have a special place in fashion history

Discover his looks here

Sophie Bille Brahe

‘I often work with pearls and diamonds that graduate from small to big. The first piece I created in this style was the Croissant De Lune single earring which consists of a row of graduating diamonds that climb up the curve of the earlobe. I have since developed this style within other designs including the diamond Tennis bracelet and Grand Ocean Ensemble ring and pearl Peggy necklace and Sienna earrings.'

Sophie brings a dose of Danish design cool and ethereal charm to fine jewellery

Peruse her designs here

Patcharavipa Bodiratnangkura

‘These rings remind me of my time with family and loved ones and their stories, from teaching to preaching. Home is where your heart is.'

Patcharavipa imbues her bold jewellery design with an edge, thanks to irregularly-shaped stones and thickly drawn gold forms 

See her designs here

Ana Khouri

‘Jewellery is my medum and to make it, by nature, is to be mindful of its techniques and the value of such fine materials. But this is secondary. The feeling I want to impart is one of radiance, in every sense: that of light, of emotion, of energy and of course, that of beauty.'

Ana Khouri's subversive designs are at the intersection of art and jewellery.

See more here