Reena Ahluwalia Paints For Women’s Empowerment

“The Portal of Empowerment” by Reena Ahluwalia

By Gretchen Friedrich, Jewelry News Network’s social media manager

Reena Ahluwalia is an award-winning diamond jewelry designer whose works have prominently appeared on fictional heads of state (Elizabeth Hurley's character in the television show The Royals) as well as on actual government-issued postage stamps. 

More recently Ahluwalia has replaced her jewelry workbench with a paintbrush, creating art works based on her love of diamonds under the name, “Jeweler Who Paints” (#jewelerwhopaints). This week she is showcasing two of her works at Art Miami 2015, one of the many art shows that appear alongside Art Basel Miami Beach. The show will run till Sunday at the Art Miami Pavilion Midtown in the Wynwood Arts District.

For the Art Miami display, Ahluwalia collaborated with fellow jewelry designer, Kara Ross, using Ross’s “Diamonds Unleashed” logo as the focal point for the paintings, “The Portal of Empowerment” and “Radiate Brilliance.” 

“Radiate Brilliance” by Reena Ahluwalia

Kara Ross—who works under the established nationally known jewelry brand, Kara Ross New York—invited Ahluwalia to paint her interpretation of the logo. Diamonds Unleashed is a for-profit group founded by Ross to support and promote women’s empowerment. 

Ross initiated the program after resetting the diamond from her own engagement ring. Instead of a symbol of love and devotion in the form of a gift, Ross says she wants diamonds to become synonymous with strength, purpose and independence. 

The Diamonds Unleashed logo, designed by Ross, is two diamonds, one pink, one blue that form a heart. The pink diamond elevates the blue diamond, symbolizing women enabling and encouraging other women. The heart formed by the diamonds embodies the goal of unanimous support among women all over the world. Plus, the symbol is derived from the most durable substance on earth. 

Ahluwalia’s previous involvement in women’s efficacy includes her design of the Courageous Spirit jewelry collection. The Rio Tinto mining group commissioned Ahluwalia to design the assembly as a tribute to the women of Madhya Pradesh, Ahluwalia 's birthplace. 

This latest endeavor by Ahluwalia and Ross epitomizes Ross’s core intention to encourage women to support women. As Ross states in the social media portion of the Diamonds Unleashed campaign: “strong women are beautiful.”

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Luxury Jewelry and Watch Brands Make their Mark at Art Basel Miami Beach

Van Cleef & Arpels celebrates international debut of GEMS Part II by Benjamin Millepied. Photo credit: Joe Gato

Van Cleef & Arpels, Forevermark Diamonds, Roger Dubuis and IWC were among the luxury jewelry and watch brands that were hosting special events at the 13th edition of Art Basel Miami Beach, held December 3 -7. 

On December 1, Van Cleef & Arpels, celebrated the international premiere of “Gems Part II: Hearts & Arrows,” the second chapter in a three-part dance. Gems was created exclusively for the French luxury jeweler through a collaboration with Benjamin Millepied and his L.A. Dance Project. The brand has been long committed to creativity, culture, and dance. The performance presented a new interpretation of precious stones, supported by artist Liam Gillick and a score composed by Philip Glass.

Van Cleef & Arpels “Pas de Deux Nacre” clip. Diamonds, yellow sapphires and white and golden mother-of-pearl set in 18k white gold. The clip is transformable so that dancers and diamond motif can be worn together or separately.

Presented in downtown Miami at the Olympia Theater at the Gusman Center, the evening was held to benefit The Wolfsonian - FIU. Following the performance, the celebration continued at The Alfred I. DuPont Building, where guests were treated to dinner prepared by famed chef, Daniel Boulud. Models draped in Van Cleef & Arpels jewels appeared then vanished through a corridor of mirrors. High jewelry pieces were displayed in deconstructed galleries that played with proportion and perspective. A portal in a secret vault revealed a kaleidoscope of brilliant gems, hidden within the walls. 

Among those in attendance, Nicolas Bos, president and CEO of Van Cleef & Arpels, Alain Bernard, president and CEO of Van Cleef & Arpels, Americas, Benjamin Millepied, founder of the L.A. Dance Project, Matthew Abess, curator at the Wolfsonian - FIU, and Sergey Filin, ballet director of the Bolshoi Ballet.

Model and DJ Hannah Bronfman (right) and artist Mylinh Trieu Nguyen in Forevermark diamond jewelry.

On December 2, Forevermark, the diamond brand from The De Beers Group of Companies, hosted a VIP Preview Reception at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami’s Opening Celebration, the official museum kick-off event for Miami Art Week.

The event served to unveil the “Promise” installation. Designed by Miami resident artist Mylinh Trieu Nguyen, the installation displayed a selection of diamonds from the Forevermark Exceptional Diamond Collection. Nguyen's installation illuminated the intersection of art, design, technology, and the diamond through videos that respond to the symbolism and character of one of the most prized and valued objects on earth.

Model and DJ, Hannah Bronfman, was on hand wearing some of the pieces.

On December 3, Jean-Marc Pontroué, Roger Dubuis CEO, and supermodel Stephanie Seymour (above) hosted a private dinner at the new Thompson Miami Beach hotel. The approximate 100 persons who attended, included Russell Simmons, Jonathan Cheban, Geoff Stults and Klaus Biesenbach of MoMA.

Velvet Haute Couture Mink Fur

The event was a chance to showcase the Swiss watch brand’s new Velvet Haute Couture collection, a limited edition of three models within the brand’s Velvet ladies collection. All of the models in the collection have a big dose of glamour with distinguishable design characteristics, such as graphic split-level dials and dynamic numerals tapering toward the center. As the face of the Velvet collection, Seymour was on hand along with her husband Peter Brant.

Karolina Kurkova wears Forevermark diamond jewelry at IWC Gala.

Also on December 3, Karolina Kurkova was adorned in Forevermark diamonds while attending a gala event hosted by Swiss luxury watch brand, IWC at W South Beach Hotel. The model was wearing the Forevermark Cluster Shield Ring and Teardrop Earrings. The event was held to mark the launch of the new Portofino Midsize watch collection.

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Audemars Piguet, Swarovski and Gemfields Woo Art Lovers At Art Basel Miami Beach

An aerial view of the “Curiosity” exhibit, commissioned by Audemars Piguet for Art Basel Miami Beach.

Luxury brands like to be where the wealthy mingle which leads them to support events like the recently concluded Art Basel Miami Beach. Among the companies jockeying for a marketing advantage by associating with the finest works in modern and contemporary art were Swiss luxury watch manufacturer, Audemars Piguet, luxury crystal manufacturer, Swarovski and colored gemstone, mining and marketing company, Gemfields.

A closer view of the “Curiosity” installation. Photo credit: Anthony DeMarco

Audemars Piguet has been out front in its support of Art Basel. In May, the company announced that it has signed on as a “Global Associate Partner” with its three fairs in Basel, Switzerland, Miami Beach and Hong Kong.

A close look at the "snow" covering the chalet and the drawing of the wood grain. Photo credit: Anthony DeMarco

In Miami, the company partnered with contemporary Parisian art gallery Galerie Perrotin by presenting a new site-specific work by French artist duo Kolkoz. The installation, titled “Curiosity,” came in the form of floating snow covered Swiss Chalet placed off the pier of the Miami Marine Stadium on Virginia Key.

The graffiti-filled site has been closed for more than 20 years and at first glance didn’t seem like a suitable place for an art installation befitting a luxury watch brand. However, it turns out that was one of the reasons the site on nearby Virginia Key was chosen. The other was the water and the heat of a typical South Florida day, which also contrasts with the snowy winter scene. The “snow-covered” chalet and pier from a distance appears to just pop up out of the water. Up close it’s easy to see that the pier is covered in a white fabric while the “chalet” is an inflatable house similar to an inflatable play station for children.

Clever and playful, this installation provides a proper setting in a number of ways. It alludes to Audemars Piguet’s wintry home in the Vallée du Joux and it gives focus to the marine stadium. The stadium, which was forced to shut down following the destruction of Hurricane Andrew in 1992, is being slated for a complete renovation.

The watch brand also had a large display of its watches in the Art Basel Miami beach “Collectors’ Lounge,” which included a retrospective of its Royal Oak watch.

An art collaboration with Brazilian architect and designer Guilherme Torres and Swarovski Crystal Palace.

In the contemporary art world South America is hot and Brazil is the epicenter of this hotness. Taking advantage of this, Swarovski Crystal Palace—a program created by the crystal company where it collaborates with artists, architects and designers to create works of art with Swarovski crystal components—teamed with Brazilian architect Guilherme Torres to create the roots of a Mangrove tree in an installation titled “Mangue Groove” that focuses on conservation for Design Miami, a contemporary art show held alongside Art Basel Miami Beach.

The installation takes the form of an abstract diagram that describes the division of spaces into cells with corresponding focal points, combined with the mangrove-root imagery. The artwork used design angled structures of acrylic tubes filled with amber-colored Swarovski crystals and illuminated from within by LEDs. The metal joints of the structures are covered with dodecahedron-shaped wooden caps. These “root” structures, which Torres wanted to look “as if they were made of crystals,” are set into shallow pools of water, against a backdrop of projections of an Amazonian sunset.

Torres used the 2014 arrival in Brazil of Swarovski Waterschool, a project that teaches children about water conservation. Water is a key component in the manufacture of Swarovski’s crystals, as the theme. However, he said he didn’t want to make obvious references to it.

Gemfields made its presence known not with an art installation but with a movie project titled, “React to Film,” by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The emerald and now amethyst mining and marketing company sponsored an event at the outside orchid gardens of the Delano Hotel (still cool after all these years). The event featured three five-minute documentaries of three groundbreaking modern artists, John Baldessari, Ed Ruscha, and David Hockney, by young filmmakers, Henry Joost & Ariel Schulman, Lance Accord and Lucy Walker.

The event gave Gemfields the opportunity to show its own promotional film of its Kagem emerald mine in Zambia, starring its ambassador, Mila Kunis. It provided an opportunity for a company that owns the Fabergé luxury brand and commissions one-of-a-kind jewelry from internationally known designers to associate its company with great artists.

Assistant Editor Maria Ling contributed to this story.

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Jewelry Sparkles at Art Basel Miami Beach

Large Kinetic Earrings (1968) by Jesus Raphael Soto

By any measure Art Basel Miami Beach, which just completed its 11th year, is a huge success. One of the ways its success has been demonstrated is the more than 20 art shows that have grown around the big event, held this year on December 5 – 8 at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

18k gold bracelet with white gold balls by Pol Bury, 1968, being shown by Didier Ltd.

Probably the most important of those fairs is Design Miami, which was held in a big white tent across the parking lot of the convention center. This was my first year attending what is now known as ABMB and was surprised to learn that Design Miami was focusing on art jewelry with no fewer than seven galleries dedicating at least some of their space to jewelry created by artists. The pieces included works by those who are known for their jewelry as well as world class artists who normally use other mediums. Among the highlights:

Ross Lovegrove 18k ring, made with 3D printing technology. Photo credit: Anthony DeMarco

* Louisa Guinness Gallery of London presented a show celebrating its tenth year of collaborating with artists to make jewelry. Ross Lovegrove was among the artists featured with a collection of 18k gold rings using 3D printing technology titled “Foliates.” Other artists on display included Antony Gormley, Anish Kapoor and Alexander Calder.

Didier Ltd. of Londonde dicated its space to the 40th anniversary of a ground-breaking jewelry exhibition held at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston in 1973, "Jewelry as Sculpture as Jewelry." Photo credit: Anthony DeMarco

* Didier Ltd. of London paid homage to the 40th anniversary of a ground‐breaking jewelry exhibition held at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston in 1973, "Jewelry as Sculpture as Jewelry." This exhibition brought together 131 pieces by 50 of the most avant‐garde jewelry designers and artists of the time. Didier Ltd presented a retrospective of this exhibition, including several unique pieces that were shown in Boston. It included pieces by Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí and Jesus Raphael Soto.

White gold necklace with colors and lines by Carlos Cruz‐Diez.

* Elisabetta Cipriani of London presented 11 pieces of jewelry by Carlos Cruz‐Diez, (three bracelets, two necklaces, two rings and four brooches) the artist hand made in the 1970s for his family and friends. Cruz‐Diez specializes in kinetic and op art and his jewelry pieces reflect this through the use of colors and lines that produce movement in relation to how light is directed at them.

Brooch by Margaret DePatta, c. 1950.

* Mark McDonald of Hudson, NY, presented several jewelry pieces by Margaret De Patta, who specializes in metalwork jewelry using architectural forms.

Butterfly Brooch by Gjis Bakker

* Caroline Van Hoek of Brussels presented the works of Gjis Bakker, which included human figures, automotive motifs and more traditional pieces.

I hope this is a trend that continues at Design Miami, ABMB and at other art shows held during the week in Miami. I need an excuse to attend again next year.

Assistant Editor Maria Ling contributed to this story.

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A Clock Made Up Of Clocks

I try to occasionally attend events and learn about things outside of what I regularly do in order to challenge and expand how I view the world. This is what brought me to Design Miami (December 4 – 8), which is held alongside Art Basel Miami Beach.

It is here that I discovered a most unusual clock. It was actually a clock made up of 60 interconnected mechanical clocks that create the time on a giant display that is similar to a digital watch. Each of the clocks’ minute hands perform a choreographed dance (for lack of a better word) before displaying the correct time.

This work was made by a Swedish design firm by the name of Humans since 1982 and is on display at Design Miami by the Victor Hunt Gallery based in Belgium.

It was developed with customized software controlled by an iPad. There were three versions of the clock on display by the gallery. A white version used 24 clocks and a black version that used 96 clocks. They range in price from 33,000 to 96,000 euro ($45,227 to $131,500). Below is a video of the clock in action.



Assistant Editor Maria Ling contributed to this story.

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Megayacht Luxury Jewelry Fair Unveils Exhibitors

The SeaFair megayach, home of the upcoming International Contemporary Jewelry Fair.

The International Contemporary Jewelry Fair unveiled some of the jewelry brands who will be exhibiting on SeaFair, a 228-foot megayacht that will be docked in Miami. The inaugural event will be held December 4-9, during Art Basel Miami Beach.

Luxury jewelry designers, many with one-of-a-kind pieces, will be participating from more than eight countries including Italy, Spain, Philippines, Lebanon, Australia, Brazil, Germany and the U.S. The show is expected to attract the same type of collectors who attend Art Basel and are interested in rare pieces of wearable art. Exhibitors for the event are as follows:

Bagues Masriera (Barcelona)
Chantecler (Capri)
Dario & Peter (Vicenza)
Opera Omnia (Milan)
Scavia (Milan)
Vendorafa (Valenza)
Zydo (Milan).
Autore (Australia)
Jewelmer (Philippines)
Arunashi (Los Angeles)
Ana Kopejka Greene Fine Jewelry Design (Jensen Beach, Fla.)
Daniel K (New York)
Denny Wong Designs, presented by Blue Marlin Jewelry (Islamorada, Fla.)
Heloisa Fitzgerald Jewelry (Boston)
Emsaru (New York)
La Reina/ART (Palm Beach, Fla.)
La Reina Collection (Los Angeles)
Oliver & Espig (Santa Barbara)
Ray Griffiths (New York)
Pandora & Pendragon  (Longwood, Fla.)
Nada G. (Beirut)
Reinstein/Ross Goldsmiths (New York)
Willow Co. (Lawrenceville, N.J.)
Yael Sonia (Brazil)
Lauren Harper Collection (Chicago)
llyn strong (Greenville, S.C.)
Rachel Dugger (Miami)

For the exhibition, the $40 million yacht, built specifically for the purpose of hosting mobile art and jewelry exhibitions, will be docked at its winter season location at Chopin Plaza, Noguchi Bayfront Park in downtown Miami.

On December 4, ICJF will open with a preview party hosted by diplomatic representatives of Italy, Brazil, Spain, Australia, Philippines and Lebanon. Regular fair hours will be from 1 p.m. till 10 p.m., December 5-9.

For more information, tickets and programming; visit www.icjfmiami.com.

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Luxury Megayacht to Host Contemporary Jewelry Fair During Art Basel Miami Beach

An event onboard the SeaFair

A new jewelry exhibition will be held on a 228-foot megayacht as part of America’s largest art fair.

The inaugural International Contemporary Jewelry Fair will be held December 4 - 9 onboard the SeaFair, a $40 million, luxury yacht built for the purpose of hosting mobile art and jewelry exhibitions. It will be part of Art Basel Miami Beach (December 6 - 9), the most prestigious art fair in the Americas.

While the exhibitors haven’t been announced yet, the organizers, International Fine Art Expositions, promise that the event “will present unique jewelry created by designers and artists from around the world as another segment of collectible contemporary art.”

For the exhibition, SeaFair will be docked at its winter season location at Chopin Plaza at Noguchi Bayfront Park in downtown Miami. In addition to the shipboard exhibition, SeaFair will play host to educational events and exclusive VIP parties, including a private “first view” event on December 4. 

The fair will be open December 5 – 8, 12 p.m. – 10 p.m.; and December 9 from 12 p.m. – 7 p.m. There will be cocktails, champagne and caviar served on the vessel’s sky deck. The ship’s glass walled VIP lounge and Luxe Lounge will offer additional gathering places for collectors.

Tickets can be purchased at the door, $20 for a one-day ticket and $30 for a “Priority Boarding” ticket, which allows immediate priority boarding. Advance ticketing is available online for $15 for a one-day ticket and $25 for a Priority Boarding ticket at www.expoships.com.

SeaFair is owned and operated by Expoships, LLLP, David and Lee Ann Lester, who have organized over 70 international art fairs in art capitals around the world for more than 20 years.

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