How Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Dior, Cartier and Chopard are making opals the latest high jewellery trend
High jewellery designers in London, Hong Kong and Italy are fascinated by the opal’s rainbow of iridescent hues and are creating stunning looks using it
With its technicolour palette, the fabled opal enchants designers who deploy their talents to do justice to its magnificent lustre.
The rainbow of iridescent hues has, for generations, been enthralling jewellery designers, including Victoire de Castellane. It is her favourite stone – ideal for one of the finest colourists in the business.
Opals have featured in nearly all her Dior Joaillerie collections over the past 20 years because, as she explains: “It’s a very poetic stone; an invitation to a fairy tale, to magic. When I look at it, I see the earth from afar, the oceans, the archipelagos, and the reflections of stars on the waves.”
Equally captivated by the opal’s qualities is Hong Kong jeweller Wendy Yue. “The characteristics of the stones provide endless amazing opportunities for me to create, nothing seems impossible or too far-fetched,” she says.
At David Morris in London, opals are one of Jeremy Morris’ favourite stones; as soon as he finishes a new piece it sells instantly. Opals are also the heart of Chopard’s floral jewellery, and a stunning 26.44-carat black opal ring (with blue-green flashes) circled by tiny yellow sapphire daisies, is being made in its atelier as part of the Exceptional Stones collection. Spectacular black opal specimens are set in Les Ciels de Chaumet’s collection as well, surrounded by diamond shooting stars.
Unlike other gemstones, the opal is non-crystalline and is formed from hardened silica gel that collects in the crevices of rocks or replaces organic material in fossilised wood, shell and bone. Its prismatic qualities fire off a myriad of colours that suddenly catch the eye.
They are also porous and quite fragile; the water in the stones makes them sensitive to dramatic temperature changes, and to see a carved white opal in the form of a coiled snake resting on a chunky gold ring in Gucci’s debut high jewellery collection Hortus Deliciarum (Garden of Delights) is rare.
Gucci’s creative director Alessandro Michele chose each of the stones for the collection, and many of the designs feature Gucci’s favourite mythical bestiary – tigers, lions and serpents.
Cartier uses a lot of the black and fragile white opal in its high jewellery, but a rare, large and spectacular matrix opal was a highlight of its 2019 Magnitude collection.