At the beginning of the brand 13 years ago, Simone laid the foundation for the tradition of annually releasing a magnificent collection, under her name, on her own specially chosen theme. Throughout the year, new designs supplement her annual collection; all of which are one-of-a-kind. Simone’s inspiration for 2018-2019 was ‘Birds of Poetry’: specifically, those which have flitted through the pages of William Shakespeare, John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley’s work, and into Simone’s. These 3 poets use birds as analogies to express love, hope and joy.
These innovations in jewellery were first presented in July 2018 to Simone's VIP clients at a private event. More than 150 unique high jewellery pieces were created in response to her sketches, which were divided into three narratives: ‘Love’, ‘Hope’, and ‘Joy’. As if she were writing three volumes of poetry in the language of jewellery art, the designer assigned her own colour palette to each of these themes.
With red toned gems such as unheated rubies, spinels, pink sapphires and garnets, Simone recounts the story of ‘Love’. For many, this scarlet hue is associated with the warm feelings of love; and therefore the jewels are the apt selection for conveying this deep and complex emotion. ‘Hope’ is embodied in blue; using sapphires, tanzanites, blue spinels and aquamarines, and ‘Joy’ came in green: emeralds, demantoid garnets and chrome tourmalines.
The key piece in each theme was a pendant in the form of a book, each of which sits on a long chain of gold and pearl – a direct reference to Simone’s source of inspiration. The relief pattern on the cover of each ‘volume’ is made of gold, gemstones and enamel, and the inscriptions “Part 1: Love”, “Part 2: Hope”, “Part 3: Joy” are alternately engraved on the cover of each tome. Moreover; each bejewelled book can be opened to reveal an exquisite engraving on a gemstone, all depicting a scene featuring the collection’s protagonists: birds.
During the creation of the first pendant, Simone spent time imagining the young Shakespeare as he searched for love and inspiration. She decorated the piece with sapphires and diamonds, as well as a three-dimensional image of a baby made of gold, who has caught a heart – a 3.57 carat African rubellite – using bait. Inside the pendant are images of a phoenix and the turtledove, to honour the eponymous poem by William Shakespeare himself.
The engraving in the second jewellery book is the nightingale, whose song inspired John Keats - the author who wrote an ode to this creature - to hope for a better future. The jewel is decorated with diamond flowers, a three-dimensional image of a nightingale covered in enamel, and a Paraíba tourmaline. The last pendant is dedicated to Shelley’s skylark, who lurks, “Like a Poet hidden. / In the light of thought.” The bird’s carefree singing is brought to life by Simone, as it sits on a branch of rubies beside 3.44 carats of mint tourmaline - conjuring memories of life’s happy moments. Broadly speaking, in Asian culture, green is associated with joy and health.
In addition to the three main pieces, the ‘Birds of Poetry’ collection includes over 150 items. Elements of these are literal embodiment of birds, for example; a cushion cut sapphire ring in the shape of a parrot, and the ‘Paradiso’ necklace with a 7.6 carat pear cut aquamarine from the Santa Maria deposit depicts a flock of birds in flight. The second line features jewellery with images of geese, where - on the front of rings for example - the image of the nightingale is partly obscured under blossoming flowers. The third visual direction of the collection is feathers, interpreted both with and without the use of gemstones.
Simone has always supported the belief that building a beautiful future requires looking into the past, and as such her company’s motto is, “History is times past. Creation is the present. Inspiration is the future.” The ‘Birds of Poetry’ collection is a vivid example of what appears to be a real success formula in the motto of Simone Jewels.
