COUTURE 2019 – PROFILES OF 5 DESIGNERS
CARPET SO SOFT THAT BOTH THE HIGH HEEL AND THE DRESS SINK IN. THE BEST DRESS IN MY CLOSET.
We are at COUTURE 2019 at Wynn Las Vegas. It is the most exclusive jewelry show (except for BASELWORLD, which is dedicated to timepieces). It is the Mount Everest of bling events. If you’re not in the money, you will not enter. It all starts with the entrance fee which has already screened the right customers. We are sparkling because we received a special invitation from the Show team. That is quite the recognition for BLINGSIS.
We take our first steps at the Wynn. The hotel carpet is so soft that the high heels sink into it. I am wearing a dress, the best one in my closet. Katarzyna traded a necklace for a camera strap and a few lenses for pendants. We are ready for day one of COUTURE!
We start with breakfast just to have David join us at the table with his cup of coffee. David is Anthony Lent’s son. For almost fifty years, Anthony Lent has been hand crafting jewelry based on sculptural creation (pendants and rings featuring the sun or the moon with a mysterious face), which is the most stand-out feature of his style. Since 2013, his sons David and Max have been helping him conduct business. They collaborate to preserve their father’s heritage for future generations.
Smiles breed smiles. Happy rings grinning with rainbow enamel and diamond smiles greet us at another stand. This is finery from the Dubai-based AISHA BAKER with its main designer Hoonik Chang who has previously worked for Hannah Martin and Cartier. We feast our eyes. Part of the collection looks like an invitation to a children’s land inspired by mysterious castles, fairy-tale forests and folk art. But there are also designs geared toward the modern woman who has a great sense of humor and a desire to invest in limited collection jewelry.
We keep on walking. A hippo catches our eye. Not the frolicking in the Nile kind of hippo, but a shiny carved in crystal kind. It resides on one of the rings from the impressive animal collection by Loren Nicole, a very successful archaeologist, who turned down the opportunity to pursue a PhD and instead packed her bags and moved to California in 2015. She now creates jewelry in her own atelier and knows that the bold decision she made was the best one in her life.
OK. So we’re in Las Vegas, baby! Therefore, my penultimate pick today is another star jewelry designer Arman Sarkisyan, renowned among the Hollywood elite. Arman learned his craftsmanship from his father, a master jeweler in Armenia and Russia. It was under his eye than Arman polished his skills for 30 years. His jewelry combines traditional goldsmithery and modern esthetics, using the best quality materials: 22 carat gold and the most beautiful gemstones. This way he authors contemporary and memorable necklaces in an award-winning style with his four prestigious Town & Country Couture Design Awards: Best of Colored Gemstones; Best of Show: Editor’s Choice; Best of Silver; and, perhaps most telling; Best in Show: People’s Choice.
Our icing on the cake is the designer whose work needs no caption. A photo of his jewelry will suffice for anyone in the industry to recognize him. We speak of the British designer Stephen Webster. We enter the private Webster stand (some of the companies allow guests to view their collections only upon producing an invitation). I am happy as a lark because I get to try on the treasures from a collection that I have long wanted to see in person. ‘Jitterbugs’ are fantasy creatures that sparkle with a wealth of jewels and fresh shades of colored enamel. Oh and uh – I am happy, I am delighted… And I can’t wait for another COUTURE. See you next year!
P.S.
For more inspirations captured during the COUTURE, visit our Instagram @blingsiscom
