CHAMOVSKIKH: Singapore through the prism of jewellery art

Modern Singapore is known across the globe for its stunning futuristic architectural masterpieces, in honour of which, on 11th December 2015, UNESCO officially designated it as a “Creative City of Design”. This occasion and the characteristics of the megapolis are what inspired jewellers at CHAMOVSKIKH to create the Singapore collection of unique pieces.

The brand has already become widely renowned outside of Russia after it took part in the Made in Russia project, first held at the annual IJL exhibition in London this year. If you regularly read my website, you will probably have read about the transformable Sofia diamond ring. Its distinctiveness, beauty and the technology behind it stunned the imaginations of not only those attending IJL, but also the many brands participating in the exhibition. This fantastical piece was, without a doubt, the star of the show, but I was also fascinated by the other jewels that were included in the Singapore collection.

An elegant necklace, a bangle, a cocktail ring and drop earrings were all part of the collection dedicated to the Asian city-state from a line of high jewellery art known as “ASEAN”. It included parures dedicated to landmark objects, cultural values and most known sights of the countries that are part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which are (including Singapore) Brunei, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand and the Philippines.

The look the designers were striving for in the Singapore collection was fashioned around natural gemstones of unbelievable beauty. The centrepiece of each jewel is a glistening red teardrop rubellite, the biggest of which, decorating a pendant, is 6.08 carats. It is rarely the case that the founder of a jewellery brand is also a gemmologist. Alexander Chamovskikh, the owner of JF Carat Holdings which includes the CHAMOVSKIKH brand, personally handpicked all the gemstones and, in the literal sense of the word, guaranteed the very highest quality by endorsing them with his own name. Alexander carefully tracks the history of every stone: to determine whether they have been ethically and safely mined, he visits the mines of the suppliers based in Tanzania and Sri Lanka himself.

Along with the juicy red stone, the Singapore necklace is adorned with 40 top quality pearls with a 9.5-11mm diameter. The distinguished chocolate colour of the sea minerals and the depth of the rubellite’s colour are really emphasised by the snow-white diamonds that cover practically the entire visible surface of the metal. The jewellers at CHAMOVSKIKH have paved 4 jewels with more than 2,000 miniature diamonds that together weigh more than 16 carats.

It is worth mentioning that the technology behind these creations is just one of the attributes that are strongly associated with the CHAMOVSKIKH brand. It has allowed the company to expand the common boundaries of jewellery fashion and offer its clients alternative ways of wearing jewellery. For example, when creating the complex compositions for the Singapore collection, the designers did not only come up with ideas that involved interesting architectural compositions, they also added transformable elements: a pendant can be removed from a necklace so that you can wear a string of pearls and the pendant on a separate chain; the lower part of an earring can be altered by turning it 15 degrees so that the pendants are always parallel to your face irrespective of where the ear lobe is.

The look of a beautifully organised megapolis is conveyed by the Singapore collection through the variety of decorative elements, complementing each other as a single structural ensemble. The necklace, bracelet, ring and earrings look unbelievably light and ethereal despite the intricacy of their design and the abundance of features. They boast both volume and levity… and nothing superfluous!

In the pursuit of a striking design, high jewellery pieces often turn out to be too ‘busy’. The incredible professionalism and love for their work displayed by the creative team at CHAMOVSKIKH allows them to realise the very boldest of design sketches without compromising the wearer’s comfort. This approach has led to the brand winning multiple first place and Grand Prix awards at competitions held as part of international jewellery exhibitions and events.