Shining Hour

Reed Krakoff, the new artistic director of Tiffany & Co., smiles as he unveils the new pieces of jewellery under the Blue Book collection.

The collection has been a passbook in which Tiffany & Co. has added its most unique pieces crafted using rare gemstones. With the dawn of the digital world, the concept of catalogues has no reason to exist. But the tradition has remained with the American jeweller.

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Moreover, those passionate about jewellery attend the event every autumn with an uncontainable impatience to view this collection, which has continued to associate with famous names. On looking closer, we understand why most of these pieces have become legend in their own right. The unique thing about the Blue Book is that it is on display only in New York’s 5th Avenue boutique.

Reed seems to be absolutely at home at this boutique. “As a Chief Artistic office, I am responsible for every creative activity of the house. It is the first time that a post like this has been created in the history of Tiffany & Co. In the past, this role was divided between several people.”

Brand ambassadors, ad campaigns, the conception of all the collections, window displays, nothing goes unnoticed by the ever watchful and erudite gaze of this gifted artist who turns everything he touches to gold. The designer is so at ease at Tiffany & Co. that he shares several points in common with the jewellers of New York: the first and most important being the ability to bring together prestige and popularity.

Before we even met him, it was apparent that this man had already made a mark on this institution: certain pillars of the house have switched the suit and tie for the more casual jeans and shirt look that the new Chief Artistic Officer wears on a daily basis. A rather revealing evolution in clothing because through it, one can, without a doubt, clearly identify the Reed’s credo, “Class is not necessarily synonymous with formality.”

Three adjectives that would perfectly sum up the Tiffany & Co. equation? “Magical, iconic and democratic.” His voice is serious and deep, slow and deliberate. Reed carefully weighs each word before he speaks to give the person listening to him enough time to comprehend all of the nuances. Democratic? “Yes, it is fundamental.”

“Tiffany & Co. is a space for dreams, of exceptionally high jewellery collection which is accessible to everyone. And that is a unique trait in the luxury world.” And evidently it is rather difficult to find another store that equals Tiffany & Co. Shining on the ground floor, visible to one and all is an unbelievable yellow diamond of 128.54 carats and of an inestimable value – the famous Tiffany Diamond. And in the floors above the store are the ateliers of the house where incredible jewels, toys and watches are developed and crafted, along with other varied objects which are at times marvellously without purpose or delicately impertinent.

To maintain a cohesiveness in this profusion of designs and objects is incredibly difficult, but clearly Tiffany & Co. holds a secret formula that makes all of this seamlessly accurate in execution. Without ever showing its inner workings this house visibly demonstrates a prodigious aptitude to bring together virtuosity, simplicity and pragmatism. The 2018 edition of the Blue Book is an ode to four seasons. Reed did not let himself be influenced by the weight of tradition or by the magnificence of the resources at his disposal. The diamonds have been given new cuts which have enhanced the poesy of their shine, the gemstones are of colours where their vivacious character is tempered by an unexpected and pleasant softness: that is how a master at his craft works. Reed has avoided the whole blinding the onlooker the exaggerated brilliance of the pieces. He has made it so that we can gaze upon their beauty, dive into the nuances, refreshing and delicate.

A sentiment shared by Melvyn Kirtley, the chief gemmologist at Tiffany, “The genius of Reed is having pushed us to look for the most unique shades and tones, to have explored and developed a most singular colour palette with more stones of a paler hue than one is accustomed to. He also got us involved in new ways of cutting the diamonds so that they would, for example, look more like ice without letting them lose any of their brilliance.” The illusion was absolute. Uncommon stones of shades of grey appearing like sheets of frost over a glacial expanse.

A diamond iceberg floating on a sea of platinum. Tanzanites come together to create Hydrangeas juxtaposed by a prismatic fan of multi-coloured dew drops under the brilliance of diamonds and sapphires which give the tanzanites, under their shade, a life of their own.

Here we are far from the flashy jewellery of the red carpet. The method for all of this is predominantly experimental. “My approach is holistic. The motifs, colours, stones and settings, all work together. Working on the Blue Book became a laboratory to develop new concepts which would one day find their way into the latest collections.” Tiffany, the titan has found itself a giant of its calibre.

From the July 2021 issue of L’Officiel India.