Spectacular colored gems and expressive forms redefine high jewelry in an inspiring blend of East and West. Jeweler Michelle Ong’s multi-hued creations crystallize natural forms with invisible mastery. The hovering translucency of dragonfly wings, the succulence of ripe fruits, and the whisper-light touch of a feather: each jewel is a miniature sculptural work of art. Michelle Ong established Carnet, her Hong Kong-based boutique jewelry house, over 25 years ago, and her unique one-off creations draw on Chinese motifs and her love of European culture and craftsmanship. She transforms jade, China’s imperial gemstone, into an Art Deco-style cocktail ring and her Chinese dragon, a fierce, yet benign creature, writhes in blackened gold and pave´-set emeralds, breathing a stream of fiery rubies. Michelle Ong’s work is acknowledged to be among the greatest in high jewelry, renowned for its sublime designs, idiosyncratic color combinations and deft craftsmanship. This volume will be required reading for serious collectors and aficionados, and a source of deep delight for all those seeking inspiration from the finest of contemporary jewelry creators.

Liza Urla is the author of the jewelry blog, Gemologue https://gemologue.com/tag/jewelry-blog

Presents the stories and designs of the leading contemporary jewellery designers working across the globe today.

“A dynamic group biography studded with design history and high-society dash . . . [This] elegantly wrought narrative bears the Cartier hallmark.”—The Economist The “astounding” (André Leon Talley) story of the family behind the Cartier empire and the three brothers who turned their grandfather’s humble Parisian jewelry store into a global luxury icon—as told by a great-granddaughter with exclusive access to long-lost family archives “Ms. Cartier Brickell has done her grandfather proud.”—The Wall Street Journal The Cartiers is the revealing tale of a jewelry dynasty—four generations, from revolutionary France to the 1970s. At its heart are the three Cartier brothers whose motto was “Never copy, only create” and who made their family firm internationally famous in the early days of the twentieth century, thanks to their unique and complementary talents: Louis, the visionary designer who created the first men’s wristwatch to help an aviator friend tell the time without taking his hands off the controls of his flying machine; Pierre, the master dealmaker who bought the New York headquarters on Fifth Avenue for a double-stranded natural pearl necklace; and Jacques, the globe-trotting gemstone expert whose travels to India gave Cartier access to the world’s best rubies, emeralds, and sapphires, inspiring the celebrated Tutti Frutti jewelry. Francesca Cartier Brickell, whose great-grandfather was the youngest of the brothers, has traveled the world researching her family’s history, tracking down those connected with her ancestors and discovering long-lost pieces of the puzzle along the way. Now she reveals never-before-told dramas, romances, intrigues, betrayals, and more. The Cartiers also offers a behind-the-scenes look at the firm’s most iconic jewelry—the notoriously cursed Hope Diamond, the Romanov emeralds, the classic panther pieces—and the long line of stars from the worlds of fashion, film, and royalty who wore them, from Indian maharajas and Russian grand duchesses to Wallis Simpson, Coco Chanel, and Elizabeth Taylor. Published in the two-hundredth anniversary year of the birth of the dynasty’s founder, Louis-François Cartier, this book is a magnificent, definitive, epic social history shown through the deeply personal lens of one legendary family.

A journey through linguistic time and space, from Aristotle through the twentieth century's “era of syntax,” in search of a dangerous verb and its significance. Beginning with the early works of Aristotle, the interpretation of the verb to be runs through Western linguistic thought like Ariadne's thread. As it unravels, it becomes intertwined with philosophy, metaphysics, logic, and even with mathematics—so much so that Bertrand Russell showed no hesitation in proclaiming that the verb to be was a disgrace to the human race. With the conviction that this verb penetrates modern linguistic thinking, creating scandal in its wake and, like a Trojan horse of linguistics, introducing disruptive elements that lead us to rethink radically the most basic structure of human language—the sentence—Andrea Moro reconstructs this history. From classical Greece to the dueling masters of medieval logic through the revolutionary geniuses from the seventeenth century to the Enlightenment, and finally to the twentieth century—when linguistics became a driving force and model for neuroscience—the plot unfolds like a detective story, culminating in the discovery of a formula that solves the problem even as it raises new questions—about language, evolution, and the nature and structure of the human mind. While Moro never resorts to easy shortcuts, A Brief History of the Verb To Be isn't burdened with inaccessible formulas and always refers to the broader picture of mind and language. In this way it serves as an engaging introduction to a new field of cutting-edge research.

Jewelry was one of the purest and most successful expressions of the Art Nouveau movement. Fresh designs and motifs created intense excitement as organic forms surged with new life, and the female form struggled towards freedom, suggesting a long-hidden eroticism. The artists and goldsmiths who created this jewelry were trained in the nineteenth-century disciplines; their technical mastery allowed them to experiment with new materials and enameling processes to indulge their fantasies. This combination - an atmosphere of ideas for a new art and the unrivaled technical skill of the makers - produced some of the most evocative jewelry of modern times. The book deals with major makers in France, and follows the parallel modern movement that spread through Europe and the United States, acquiring different decorative characteristics, from Great Britain, Germany and Austria, to Belgium, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. Comprehensive biographies of over 300 designers are included, as well as a Guide to Identification, with over 200 makers' marks and signatures.

21st-Century Jewellery Designers: An Inspired Style is a stunning survey of the contemporary jewellery that's being designed and created across the world today. From the great JAR, to James de Givenchy and Nicholas Varney in the West, and Michelle Ong, Wallace Chan and Bhagat in the East, 21st-Century Jewellery Designers: An Inspired Style is an exploration into the designers' worlds, helping the reader to discover the jewels that great jewellery artists are creating now. Interviews with each designer featured reveal their inspirations and passions, their favourite materials, designing processes, and how their personalities influence their designs. Designers include: JAR (France); Kaoru Kay Akihara (Japan); Walid Akkad (Lebanon/France); Lorenz Baumer (France); Bhagat (India); Sevan Bicakçi (Turkey); Luz Camino (Spain); Wallace Chan (China); Edmond Chin for Etcetera (China); Lydia Courteille (France); Michele della Valle (Italy/Switzerland); Patrice Fabre (France); James de Givenchy for Taffin (USA); Vincente Gracia (Spain); Hemmerle (Germany); Anna Hu (USA/Taiwan); Michelle Ong for Carnet (China); Suzanne Syz (Switzerland); Nicholas Varney (USA); Stephen Webster (UK); Dickson Yewn for Yewn Heritage (China); Rami Abboud (Lebanon); Tomasz Donocik (UK); LaMouche (China/France); 10 Royale (France). AUTHOR: A Fellow of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain (Gem A), Juliet Weir-de La Rochefoucauld began her career at Sotheby's & Co., London. Based in France she writes about jewellery and is working on her next book on the subject. Juliet's Great-grandfather, Thomas Weir, founded the jewellers Weir & Sons in Dublin in 1869, a company that is still run by members of the family. SELLING POINTS: * An exploration of the passions and inspirations that have ignited the creation of sumptuous jewels with a definitively contemporary touch * Presents the stories and designs of leading contemporary jewellery designers working across the globe - France, the USA, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Japan, the UK, Spain, Italy, China, Turkey, Lebanon, Taiwan, India, Germany * Each entry is accompanied by beautiful colour photographs of the designer's pieces * Includes a chapter on the new rising stars in the industry 500 colour images