A Growing Flock: Tiffany & Co. Expands Bird on a Rock with Love Birds and Natural Pearls

Jean Schlumberger’s iconic Bird on a Rock design for Tiffany & Co. has been everywhere in recent years, and this precious flock is growing larger still this spring with the arrival of two new High Jewellery capsule collections honouring the New York house’s favourite feathered motif. Bird on a Rock: Love Birds places two birds in conversation, with the jewels conceived as pairs. Bird on a Pearl, meanwhile, is designed around a new selection of exceptional natural pearls, building on the capsule first introduced four years ago.

Envisaged by Jean Schlumberger in 1965, the Bird on a Rock has always walked a fine line between preciousness and playfulness. That whimsical spirit is still very much alive in the latest iterations, while allowing for a subtle evolution of the collection’s design codes.

With Love Birds, the message is all about connection. Each piece is crafted as a duo, with two birds, two stones and two perspectives. Rather than mirroring one another, the birds go about their business independently, yet in harmony. Each is one of a kind, with its own personality, whether perched on the stone, beak lifted mid-chirp, or hovering beneath it.

As Chief Artistic Officer Nathalie Verdeille notes, the individuality of the birds is driven by the gemstones themselves. 

Chosen for the feelings they evoke, the stones give each pairing its own character. In some pairings, a single gemstone appears in two different cuts – one faceted, one cabochon – revealing how the same stone can express different moods. A striking rubellite duo, for instance, juxtaposes a 36-carat oval stone with a 62-carat round cabochon, while another pairing sets a 29-carat oval cabochon tanzanite beside a 27-carat faceted oval. Elsewhere, contrast is the point: an Australian black opal paired with orange topaz, a rare grey moonstone with hot pink tourmaline and an oval cabochon moonstone set alongside a blue cuprian elbaite tourmaline.

Also new for 2026 is the fourth chapter of Bird on a Pearl. First launched in 2023, the High Jewellery capsule returns with new brooches, pendants and rings that continue to celebrate the rarity of natural saltwater pearls, sourced exclusively from the private collection of Hussein Al Fardan. As custodian of one of the world’s most significant collections of Arabian Gulf pearls, Al Fardan has granted Tiffany access to ocean-born gems that sit worlds apart from their cultured counterparts. Chosen for their exceptional size, shape and radiance, the diversity of forms and hues highlights the singularity of each pearl.

This year marks the introduction of birds with blue and pink star sapphire heads, their asterism creating a star-like effect that drifts across the domed surfaces as the jewels move. In one brooch, a pavé diamond bird perches atop a white baroque pearl of over 18 carats; in another, a brownish-grey baroque pearl exceeding 29 carats becomes the focal point of a pendant. A further one-of-a-kind piece reimagines an archival Schlumberger design, incorporating 18k gold “flames” and an exceptionally rare bi-colour baroque pearl formed naturally in the shape of a heart.

The Bird on a Rock has been a frequent presence on red carpets in recent months, from Amanda Seyfried wearing the brooch as a choker at the Venice Film Festival to Connor Storrie pinning it to his lapel at the Golden Globes earlier this year. With the Academy Awards drawing closer, it seems only a matter of time before Tiffany & Co.’s latest birds take flight beneath the spotlight once again.