EXCLUSIVE: Maison Mazerea Debuts Yellow Diamond Jewelry Collection
PARIS — Diamond brand Maison Mazerea on Wednesday will unveil its first jewelry designs, all dedicated to yellow diamonds, at a cocktail with the Princess Grace Foundation, said its founder Peter J. Ravenscroft.
But don’t expect dozens of variations around a single inspiration, as styles here range from bridal to whimsical.
More from WWD
Ravenscroft explained that the real goal was to display the range of colors and cuts as a proof of concept for Maison Mazerea’s focus on quality of diamonds instead of carat sizes.
Rather than a theme, the brief he gave was to “do justice to the stones,” which range from a very intense yellow found in Northwestern Canada to the “liquid sunshine” buttery tones of the Ellendale mines in Western Australia.
“My bias is toward diamonds, so the jewelry is a supporting act,” the brand’s founder told WWD, calling this initial collection a way of “showing the range of what we have and what we will have from the jewelry side.”
Some 40 designs form the opening gambit in the jewelry category for the recently launched diamond specialist.
The centerpiece of this lineup is, of course, the transformable “Coeur de Mazarin” necklace, which owes its moniker to the brand’s namesake, the diamond collecting 17th-century clergyman and politician Cardinal Jules Mazarin.
Two yellow diamonds, a 7.45-carat antique cut heart shape and a 3.4-carat pear shape, take pride of place on the necklace, which features an additional 106 diamonds of large fancy shape and marquise cuts totalling just under 50 carats. It can be separated into a white diamond choker and two pendants, each bearing one of the colored gems.
Elsewhere, a pair of rings feature a 7.01-carat emerald-cut yellow diamond flanked with two D-color diamonds and pavé accents on a platinum and yellow gold setting, or a 3-carat fancy vivid orange-yellow pear shape with six smaller marquise cuts.
Underpinning this initial offering is Maison Mazerea’s initial intention of “putting [its] stones into jewelry through collaborative relationships,” said Ravenscroft, who declined to highlight any jewelry designers working with the brand at this stage.
The pieces presented in New York have been created in collaboration with two jewelers — Solid Gold Diamonds, based in Perth, Australia, and New York-based M&V Vanguard. Prices in the collection start around $20,000 and reach the $5 million range, while the smallest yellow diamond weighs in at just under a carat.
While this yellow diamonds collection is all “about how can we bring these [stones] together [to be] accessible and wearable and available,” showcasing gems cut and polished in Maison Mazerea’s ateliers in Perth, Australia, Ravenscroft explained that the company’s next move would be more targeted capsule collections, which will start to roll out in 2023.
Before that, in addition to these yellow diamond designs, the brand will be unveiling the Lorenz Bäumer-designed “La Vie En Rose” setting for its 1.79-carat Grace Diamond on Thursday, at a gala benefiting the Princess Grace Foundation.
