Back-to-school jewels: precious pieces for new terms and fresh starts

New term, new shoes, new teacher... the autumn equinox is upon us and the excitement of a new term abounds. This Sunday (22 September 2024), days and nights are officially equal length. And if you want to buckle down on the numbers, then feel free do the math, because we're in a back-to-school mood of an altogether different nature – a gold-tipped, diamond-set one to be precise. And while you work out the celestial details, we've got your new-term jewellery kit sorted.

The Precious Alphabet

London jewellery designer Alexandra Jefford created her precious alphabet in 2010. 'I liked the idea of a font that is a little reminiscent of the Bauhaus era but with a modern take,’ she says of her monogram charms. ‘I was inspired by the idea that letters are the building blocks of language and communication, in the same way that the elements are the building blocks of nature. A letter not only signifies a name, but here, the font makes a statement of its own.’ The alphabet is designed in both white gold and diamond, and yellow gold versions.

Enquire at alexandrajefford.com

The Calendar

London-based designer Solange Azagury-Partridge launched her first Hotlips ring design in 1995, as ‘the embodiment of the perfect lipstick on a beautiful, kissable mouth’. Its success is such that it now comes in a cheeky range of expressions, such as the Hotlips tote. Handy for carrying iPads, books, pens and the like. The designer’s joyful Days of the Week emerald ring, meanwhile, with its revolving barrel depicting each day, will keep your calendar bang up to date with a diamond-set twist.

Hotlips tote, £25. Days of the Week emerald ring, enquire at Solange.co.uk

The Language Lesson

Dior creative director of fine jewellery Victoire de Castellane’s Dioramour fine jewellery collection, with its timeless, dear-diary confessions of ‘love and belonging’ is a classic choice for marking new beginnings. London charm specialist Loquet, meanwhile, wholly succeeds in its remit of creating tiny gold stories for 'celebrating big moments to be proud of’. Each is a precious-language reminder to agree with your teacher and work extremely hard this term.

Dioramour ring, £1,200, from Dior.com

Miss Script Charm, £220, from Loquetlondon.com

The Desk Diary

Everyone who prefers to use a traditional desk diary (count me in) has a particular remit when it comes to its double-page layout and white space. This Must de Cartier black calfskin number, with its pure art deco font and three-column 'things to do today' format is an elegantly simple system. And for those who like to start the day with a positive mantra that, no matter what, life really is beautiful, the diary's facing pages, replete with illustrations of archive Cartier jewellery and watch designs, is sure to inspire.

Must de Cartier notebook, £720, get notified at Cartier.com

The Locker Room Essentials

The personal padlock is a classic jewellery design and weird, wonderful or simple silver and gold versions abound at auction sales. This exquisite lock brooch, which can also be worn as a pendant, is a particularly fine example of those offered at Bonhams auction house. If you miss out, alternative sites, including 1stdibs.com and The-saleroom.com are great resources for archive-jewellery lockets.

Of course, a padlock needs a key, and Wouters & Hendrix’s chain of silver openers shines with the surrealist humour that underpins the Antwerp jewellery house's skewed take on design. Wear it as a reminder to pick up your keys or, perhaps, view the necklace as an abstract prompt for theories on how not to lose them.

Check upcoming lots at bonhams.com

Necklace with keys in silver, €330, from Wouters-hendrix.com

The Desktop Necessaries

An apple for your desk is always a good idea for the first day of term because it presents an array of possibilities, whether you need a sweetner for the teacher or a mid-morning snack. This sterling silver-topped Murano glass apple jar, one of a whole bowl of deliciously whimsical fruits by Buccellati, would even double up as a pen pot.

The discerning student will, of course, choose a Montblanc pen as a way of indicating they start as they mean to go on: at the top. 2024 marks 100 years since the Hamburg maker of 'fine writing instruments' launched its 24ct-gold nibbed Meisterstück pen. This year, it has been studiously engaged in a history lesson of its own, diving into its own archive. This art deco design never saw the light of day when it was conceived in the 1930s. Today, the Origin collection Solitaire LeGrand fountain pen, in coral lacquer and intricate 24ct-gold-coated metal carapace is produced, in its original form for the very first time.

Murano glass yellow apple jam jar, £2,950, from Buccellati.com

Meisterstück The Origin Collection Solitaire LeGrand Fountain Pen F, £2,300, from Montblanc.com

The Writing Lesson

The French costume jeweller and interiors specialist, Goossens has just launched Infinitely Goossens, a collection of 24ct gold-dipped brass lucky charms designed as a ‘unique language of love, nature, luck and mystery’. We’re sweet on the Envelope pendant, with its bright-red resin seal.

In our book, love letters are as valid a writing exercise as a thesis on gravitational bends, and London-based jewellery designer Nadine Ghosn's Pencil bracelet poses a brain teaser all its own. That the maverick jewellery designer delights in elevating seemingly innocuous items (from hamburgers to bike chains) into jewelled forms, inviting us to reconsider them anew, only underlines the importance of innocuous romantic notions.

Envelope pendant necklace, £270, from Goossens-paris.com

Pencil bracelet in rose gold, £23,860, by Nadine Ghosn, from Doverstreetmarket.com