Source:
https://scmp.com/magazines/style/watches-jewelry/article/1995556/impress-crowd-hk117-million-bejewelled-clutch
Style/ Luxury

HK$11.7 million bejewelled clutch is the ultimate luxury minaudière

There's nothing worse than turning up at a social event and finding that another guest is wearing the same outfit as you.

Leanne Douglas

Updated: 1:21pm, 28 Apr, 2017

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The luxury minaudière is decorated with a total of 89 diamonds, which range from 1ct to 3.5ct each. The diamonds have different shapes and sizes and are complemented with Burmese rubies. Illustration: Pour la Vie

 

There's nothing worse than turning up at a social event and finding that another guest is wearing the same outfit as you. This fashion faux pas extends to accessories as well. Ahead of party season - be it weddings, Christmas or the New Year - STYLE has worked with bespoke jewellers Pour La Vie to create the ultimate luxury clutch which, thanks to the generous sprinkle of diamonds and rubies adorning the front of the bag, doubles as eye-catching jewellery.

The Pour La Vie team uses cutting-edge technology during the design process to create 3D renderings of the bag. This allowed us to fine-tune the bejewelled clutch in the design process. For STYLE's bespoke minaudière, the Pour La Vie team turned to the skies for inspiration, opting to use Burmese rubies and diamonds set against a classic rose gold base to emulate the night skies.

According to CEO of Pour La Vie Adrian Lai, using stars as an inspiration was an obvious choice when it came to a unique luxury minaudière.

Stars, Lai says, are unique. Each star in the galaxy has its own intricate differences, which is celebrated the world over, admired by people at night as they gaze upon the twinkling diamonds in the sky.

Romantically, Lai adds: "Diamonds are forever, and [similarly] stars are also forever."

To replicate the natural beauty of stars in the night sky, the minaudière designed by Lai and his team features an array of diamonds of different sizes and cuts.

The GIA Certified diamonds are all of E/F colour and VS clarity, and Lai and the Pour La Vie team chose a range of cushion, emerald, pear, marquis, triangle and round cut diamonds to create their version of the night sky on the minaudière.

To fully capture the notion of the galaxy, Lai and his team purposefully decided not to align the diamonds to form specific patterns or shapes. For Lai, the beauty of the stars' natural and unique positions is what makes them romantic so he chose to reflect this in the design.

Featuring a total of 89 diamonds, which range from 1ct to 3.5ct each, the stones will no doubt capture every ray of light and add a sparkle to any outfit.

Lai admits there is one final reason he chose to incorporate diamonds of varying shapes and sizes. "Every memory we hold is also unique, and the [stories] which we associate with [our memories come in different] shapes and sizes," he says.

Playing on this notion of creating memories, Lai decided to use Burmese rubies to complement the sparkling diamonds. The colour red is associated with good fortune in Chinese culture and tradition.

"Red signifies luck in Chinese culture," Lai says.

With this luxury minaudière, there will certainly be many cherished memories.

Adrian Laiis CEO of Hong Kong-based boutique jewellery store Pour La Vie.After working with luxury brands, including Loeweand Ferragamo,Lai joined forces with Pour La Vie owners Joanna Lo and Togo Yu to create luxury bespoke jewellery. The family-run business aims to tailor make jewellery for their clients and they promise there is no limit to their imagination (www.pourlavie.com).