What makes a gem treasured? There are solely 4 gems that get that distinction: diamonds, sapphires, emeralds and rubies. In keeping with geologists, these stones possess the minerals that mix the very best levels of magnificence, hardness, sturdiness and rarity. Treasured stones in jewellery have fascinated mankind for the reason that daybreak of time. Earlier than written language and even the spoken phrase, there was jewellery. British archaeologist Archibald Campbell Carlyle stated of primitive man, “The primary religious need of a barbarous man is ornament.”

However jewellery is greater than a mere decoration, a flash of money or historic heirloom in a museum or gathering mud in a secure. Jewellery symbolizes a lot greater than that — it’s a image of our separation from the animal kingdom and our need to seize and respect magnificence.

Excessive jewellery — or in French, haute joaillerie — refers to the most costly items of jewellery obtainable from the big-name homes, lots of that are one-of-a-kind; price hundreds of thousands as a consequence of supplies, workmanship and signature, and embody extraordinarily helpful gems as distinctive options.

The formal excessive jewellery exhibits occur in Paris in the course of the Haute Couture exhibits, and each exemplify the most effective in creativity and supplies, and provide designs that drive the creativeness past the doable. However the highest type of jewellery artwork does greater than encourage fantasy and creativeness: It additionally retains previous craftsmanship alive, and gives a tangible and moveable technique to protect investments. 

Right here, WWD showcases items made out of the best treasured stones — diamonds, sapphires, emeralds and rubies — crafting beautiful, one-of-a-kind items that dazzle the attention and preserve the uncommon artwork that goes again centuries.