Tiffany Spent Two Years Making This Peacock-Feather High Jewelry Necklace. Here’s Why.
Describing some of the over-the-top creations executed for Tiffany & Co.’s latest Blue Book collection, Victoria Reynolds, the company’s chief gemologist, tells Robb Report that over the span of her 37-year career at the house, she has never seen pieces created with such a high level of ingenuity and technical prowess. “The caliber of craftsmanship in this collection is better than anybody out there—anybody,” she says. “And I’m not the type of person that throws that stuff around lightly. But this is the finest collection of high jewelry that exists right now.”
It’s a bold bit of bragging in a largely well-mannered industry, but the workmanship and showstopping glamour of the Jean Schlumberger tribute pieces—a major focus of the recent collection—make the statement hard to refute. The celebrated designer, who worked for the house from 1956 until his retirement in the mid-’70s, was known for his intricate detailing, brilliant use of color, and ability to imbue a sense of movement to imaginative pieces based on flora and fauna. This Peacock necklace embodies those attributes but on an even grander technical scale than the late jeweler could have achieved in his era. The piece is so complex it took two years to create—so long that it ultimately missed the big reveal alongside the rest of the collection in Beverly Hills last April. It finally made its debut with clients in September and is being seen publicly for the first time here.
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The Peacock is a prime example of how creative director Nathalie Verdeille has taken Schlumberger’s aesthetic and pumped it up to jaw-dropping proportions, accentuating the visual drama through challenging craftsmanship. “I would say this is one of the more complicated necklaces we’ve done, and it was primarily because of the specificity of those tourmalines and making sure that the color was just right and the cut was just right,” Reynolds says.
No stone was left unturned. In fact, many of the stones were painstakingly cut to fit each setting. Likewise, the 3-D model meant to guide the jewelers in the creation was tweaked frequently to achieve architectural perfection. “It’s very much like haute couture,” says Reynolds, who adds that even after the necklace’s sale, jewelers will adjust it to ensure the feathers lie just so on the wearer’s collarbone. “The beauty of this piece is that it really is custom-fit to the client once it’s sold.”
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3-D Printing
A 3-D-printed model of the design is produced to serve as a guide for the actual precious-metal and gemstone creation. Through several iterations, the model is adjusted for volume and proportion. “When I started at Tiffany in the ’80s, we didn’t have the luxury of doing this in CAD, so someone was literally carving the model in wax by hand,” recalls Reynolds. “A necklace [mold] like this would have taken thousands of hours.”
Custom Fitting
A selection of loose stones is ready to be set in the necklace. Each of the trillion-shaped (triangular) white diamonds has been custom cut to fit its setting—a particularly difficult task due to the pointy edges. “You’ve got to make sure there are no chips,” Reynolds warns.
Baguette Cuts
The tourmalines are chosen for their perfect balance of green and blue, mimicking the hues of a peacock’s feathers. They’re cut to fit from a single rough, one at a time. “When you have a curved portion of any type of a necklace with colored gemstones, the tolerance is so small that you actually have to cut a baguette, set it, and then cut another baguette and set it,” explains Reynolds.
Final Casting
A Tiffany artisan finesses each final casting component. If the setting is too wide, it is adjusted and polished so that the stone will fit perfectly with the symmetry of the piece.
Plume Setting
The 18-karat-yellow-gold feathers are set with diamonds before being attached to the 17 platinum plumes. Despite the complexity and sheer number of moving parts that must be handled by jewelers, setting the plumes individually “allows you to make a lot of decisions on connections, on volume,” Reynolds says.
Collar Feathering
The peacock feathers are connected to the diamond collar via their stems, which are composed of 116 triangle-cut diamonds, with jewelers using tweezers to place stones into the casting.
Peacock Eyes
The large tanzanite stones and the smaller tourmalines that form the “eyes” of the peacock plumes are set; here, the artisan attaches the diamond feathers that will dangle below.
A Dazzling Finish
After more than 1,000 hours of workmanship, the piece is complete. The finished product includes 17 cushion-cut tanzanites totaling 108.51 carats, 153 custom baguette-cut green tourmalines totaling 33.65 carats, 116 triangle-cut diamonds totaling 10.94 carats, 306 custom baguette-cut white diamonds totaling 38.41 carats, and 708 round white-diamond melees totaling 18.74 carats. It will be shown in select global markets, such as Madrid and Beijing, before it roosts around the neck of one extremely VIP client.
