By Jennifer Heebner, Editor in Chief
Peggy Grosz has nothing against Rubies, Emeralds, and blue Sapphires—the ‘Big Three’ as they’re known in the industry—but she doesn’t use them in her designs at Assael. That admission is shocking to learn but clear to see if you’ve been paying attention to the brand’s designs since the Senior Vice President and Creative Director joined in 2017.
To date, she’s made about three jewels with Rubies and blue Sapphires and none with Emeralds. But you’ll still find Assael’s designs in the cases of some of the world’s most impressive retail brands (think Neiman Marcus).
There is a reason behind Grosz’s strategy, and it has to do with the cultured Pearls that Assael has long been known for. “I have a sincere deep love for the color tones in Pearls and a love of colored gems, but nobody was pairing them together,” she explains.
Plus, upon her arrival, she didn’t want to spend years trying to differentiate Assael from other Pearl brands; adding color in an intentional way could “get people interested in Pearls,” she adds. So, Grosz debuted a Colored Gemstones collection featuring the top-end Pearls for which the industry knew Assael and that were complemented by colored gems. Think green Tourmaline with Tahitian Pearls, Aquamarine with white South Seas, brown Zircon with Fijian Pearls, and more.
This is where traditional blue Sapphires and Rubies and Emeralds—for all their beauty and desirability—just didn’t work.
“When these gems are fine, they have very strong colors,” says Grosz. “They just don’t fit the color tones of the Pearls as well.”
Spinel, responsibly sourced Coral, and other lesser-known gems, however, were a great fit. For example, different colors of Spinel, multicolored Sapphires, and bicolor Tourmalines worked well with Tahitians in multicolored tones; Morganite and Kunzite looked great with the pink and rose tones in Tahitians; and white South Sea Pearls with silver-blue tones complemented Aquamarines.
“I just couldn’t find Rubies, blue Sapphires, or Emeralds that tied into the color of the Pearls in the same way,” Grosz adds.
After the Colored Gemstone collection gained popularity among clients, Grosz’s next move was to add even lesser-known gems like Jasper to the mix. These were available in abundance and had a wide array of colors and patterns that would enhance the beauty of Assael’s fine Pearls and Coral, another big component of its inventory.
At the 2022 Couture jewelry show, Grosz unveiled six pieces from what became her NatureScapes collection; five sold, reinforcing her gamble as a smart one. From there on, she sought materials that were magnificent to look at but sounded downright weird to set into fine jewelry. Think petrified wood, black metamorphic rocks containing Pyrite, an aggregate of Feldspar, Quartz, and Copper called “Copper Rose,” and dendritic Agate, among others. The looks and materials were out of the box for sure, but they worked really well.
The combinations are as memorable as they are unique. Golden Pearls glisten in earrings with petrified oak, while another type of petrified wood speckled with light and dark blues and browns gorgeously highlights different colors of Tahitian Pearls. A ring with a center gem of Violane, a manganese-rich type of Diopside in pale blue, has a halo of white South Sea Pearls.
Grosz calls Maligano Jasper from Indonesia a “miracle of nature” for its Japanese cherry blossom-like scenes etched by Mother Earth, and sets it in earrings with Sardinian Coral, Tahitian Pearls, and blue-gray Spinel. Another pair of earrings has Sardinian Coral and Sunrise Jasper—“A fiery orange red that looks like an exploding volcano, molten lava at its hottest,” says Grosz—and is also set with “Lagoon” Tourmaline, “a magical blue-green color that looks like the Mediterranean Sea,” she adds.
For Couture this year, expect to see more offerings of all, plus more natural Pearls paired with gems, carved conch shells with gems, and even some Fijian blister Pearl styles. “The blisters are in shades of black and gold and silver and look like the sun rising from a dark earth,” says Grosz. Also expect more funky stuff, an Assael specialty now, in the form of 22k gold jewels that call to mind 1960s fashion.
As for that Big Three aversion, it’s not personal, it’s just business. Still, that tide could turn at any time—especially when Grosz’s creative juices get flowing. “We have some wonderful Colombian Emeralds that I just haven’t fully decided what to make with them yet,” she says.
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