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By Barbara Penny Angelakis
Photography courtesy of Jewels of Ocean
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In 1845 a young jeweler from Valenza - a small town in northwest Italy renowned as the center of the goldsmith industry - dreamt about becoming the foremost supplier of premium gems to the world. He set about establishing direct relationships with the finest mines in Columbia, Thailand, Burma, Ceylon, and South Africa. Within a few years of hard work and dedication, his dream was realized and his company’s reputation was established as providing the rarest of gems - clearest diamonds, brightest rubies, deepest sapphires, and purest emeralds. By the end of the nineteenth century, the company had become the leading distributor of fine gems throughout Europe. The excellence of his gems and his reputation for providing exquisite, individually crafted jewelry for royalty was fueling demand by connoisseurs the world over and led the next generation to establish its own prestigious jewelry line, which was launched in 1920. The company now known as Jewels Of Ocean is on its fifth generation of family  members dedicated to providing the most magnificent of colored stones, singular pearls in size and color, and original designs that are eminently wearable and yet timeless in their beauty.
I sat in the elegant offices of Jewels Of Ocean overlooking New York’s Rockefeller Center, chatting with Raymond Hakimi the great, great, grandson of the original founder. Raymond is a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City and is adding his fashion acumen to the company by developing youth oriented designs that fit into today’s lifestyles. His vision is to create a fashion statement; by dressing to complement his line of jewelry, not using jewelry as the accessory to clothing… a total inverse to the thinking of times past.
Raymond’s father, who is still very active in the business, has a passion for pearls. It was that passion for the living gem that is perfect as it is birthed directly from the ocean - unlike colored stones that must be cut and polished - that caused him to scour the oyster beds of Tahiti, Australia, the Philippines, and most recently China, for the treasures from the sea. It is his devotion to pearls that was responsible for the vertical expansion of the precious gem inventory of the company.
Raymond explained that while Jewels Of Ocean does not have direct store outlets, their collections are showcased at select retail stores in New York, Palm Beach, Bal Harbour, Dallas, Las Vegas and Beverly Hills, as well as at fine jewelers in London, Paris, Milan, Monte-Carlo, Geneva, Dubai, Kuwait City, Tokyo, Beijing and Hong Kong. While the list is impressive, I asked if their exquisite jewelry is not sold under their Jewels Of Ocean logo, how did one know which pieces was theirs. Raymond explained that the look of their designs is so distinctive and the quality of their jewels is so uncommon, that to the perceptive eye Jewels Of Ocean art jewelry stands out. And with that he produced samples of beautifully worked gold and platinum necklaces, rings, bracelets, earrings and broaches that sparkled with precious stones, and pearl strands of such perfectly matched size and color that left me gasping with delight. He explained that to create a pearl necklace of this quality can take many years and requires patience and diligent searching and negotiations, but that the final product is so outstanding that to the astute purchaser the excellence of the result is their de facto Jewels Of Ocean signature.
Of course, there are some clients that demand personal attention from the Jewels Of Ocean family and Raymond is pleased to accommodate those individuals with their personal selection of the stones to be used in pieces that are designed to flatter their distinctive style. To maintain the quality for which they are know, the original designer of every item of jewelry is involved in each step of the process, until the finished product is set to adorn even the most discriminating of clientele. And designing the look and selecting the stones is only the beginning. There is the overseeing of the technical work of forging approximately 300 connections between each piece of metal that of course must be hidden behind a gem to create a seamless and fluid final product. Manufacturing workrooms are still located in Italy, in the charming town of Valenza, in the Regione di Piemonte, just a few hours west of Milan where it all began so long ago.
Jewels Of Ocean currently features two signature designer lines. Collezione Sangue Blu or “Blue Blood” is a collection dedicated to the artisans of bygone days when adornment with jewelry was an indicator of rank and wealth. Legions of unnamed artisans labored to craft jewelry and objet d'art out of precious metals and brilliant gem stones and this extraordinary collection pays tribute to their craftsmanship. Today too much jewelry is machine-made in assembly line style with the vision of the designer lost to mass production efficiency. The Sangue Blu collection recreates the process of the past in that each piece remains under the control of the original designer from concept to finished rendition. More than 150 hours of work is involved in creating each unique item and the resulting masterwork is a true piece of art.
The Pietra Dura Collection is oriented towards our dynamic contemporary culture while still maintaining a fashionable and elegant line. Chalcedony, popularized by the Duchess of Windsor, or Angel’s skin coral so named by Louis XV to honor the beautiful skin of his mistress Madame de Pompadour, paired with white or yellow gold and diamonds or colorful precious stones, lend a youthful fashion statement to the creations in this collection. Jewels Of Ocean experts comb the world for the finest quality rock crystal, jade, mother-of-pearl, turquoise, blue and green agate, as well as angel’s skin, chalcedony and aquamarine to create outstanding yet less formal adornments.
Jewels Of Ocean prides itself on providing “The Most Precious Jewels In The World”.
© April 2009 LuxuryWeb Magazine. All rights reserved.
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