JCK Luxury: TOP 10 Jewels From The Fair Bayco

Every year 41 million tourists visit Las Vegas, also known as Sin City, home to the world’s 40 most lavish hotels, and once a year, one of these hotels, The Mandalay Bay, opens its doors to tens of thousands of people visiting the JCK Jewellery Exhibition. Any guest attending the event is guaranteed total immersion in the latest buzz from the jewellery industry and the chance to discover plenty of names, collections and trends they have never come across before. In a recent interview for Mark Patterson Jewelry I was asked where I find interesting brands and designers to write about on my website. Of course, one of the sources for discovering new talents is jewellery exhibitions like JCK, an absolute gold mine of fantastic jewellery and a key source of inspiration for new articles.

There is a saying, “All that glitters is not gold”, and with this in mind I take a very selective approach to jewellery. Once I had checked out the several hundred designs I chose my top ten using my usual criteria. What are they? The same criteria that would have to be met for any woman to fall madly in love with a piece of jewellery: it must be visually appealing and set the heart racing at one look. I also, of course, took into account the design concept, the level of craftsmanship, the quality of the stones and the techniques used. So take a look at my detailed list below and then vote for your favourite piece!

href=”http://bayco.com/” rel=”noopener noreferrer” target=”_blank”>Bayco

What I liked: I simply could not resist the beauty of the Mogul necklace with its irregular shaped emeralds. Just look at the flowery patterns carved into them. I feel like these Colombian stones could not look better combined with the diamonds that join them together and decorate the line of the décolleté.

href=”http://www.bellarri.com/” rel=”noopener noreferrer” target=”_blank”>Bellari

What I liked: I am always impressed by original techniques for working with stones and metals. The Bellari jewellery designers have really mastered the art of setting baguette-cut stones together side by side so that the gold practically cannot be seen. The result is the illusion of stones that sparkle and soar.

href=”http://www.dabakarov.com/Dabakarov/index.html” rel=”noopener noreferrer” target=”_blank”>Dabakarov

What I liked: What attracted me to this bracelet was the rich combination of over twenty different coloured gemstones. These were combined with a gold frame featuring different sized oval holes. This wavy pattern calls to mind the swirls of sunlight on the seabed.

href=”http://www.gammacreations.com/gamma/” rel=”noopener noreferrer” target=”_blank”>Gamma Creations

What I liked: Art-deco style jewellery has maintained its relevance to this day, and when it is designed with the impeccable taste and perfect proportions demonstrated in this pink sapphire and diamond ring from Gamma Creations, then to not include it in my top ten would be an unforgivable mistake.

href=”http://www.georland.com/” rel=”noopener noreferrer” target=”_blank”>Georland

What I liked: I was instantly captivated by the “wet tarmac” effect applied to the metal which I saw on several of the designs by French brand Georland. The effect was achieved by using a specially treated surface of silver, which looked striking when combined with deep-blue sapphires for these earrings.

href=”http://www.lareinacollection.com/” rel=”noopener noreferrer” target=”_blank”>La Reina

What I liked: When the desire in the designer to create unusual jewellery overcomes the instinct to make a piece that is standard or commercial, the result is something like these titanium rhombus earrings. Solid but unusually light, with a matt finish and a neat little design. La Reina cannot be praised enough.

href=”https://www.lilijewelry.com/” rel=”noopener noreferrer” target=”_blank”>Lili Jewelry

What I liked: The table of different diamond cuts lists the ten most common styles, so, of course, when you come across a really unusual cut you have to stop and check it out. That was the case with this ring: nestled right in the centre of a blossoming diamond flower was a unique decoration in the form of a four-leafed Lily cut from a single 3-carat diamond.

href=”https://www.siegelson.com/” rel=”noopener noreferrer” target=”_blank”>Siegelson

What I liked: The jewellery exhibited by Lee Siegelson at JCK Luxury stood out from everything else. I was already well-acquainted with the selection so I chose something with a contemporary feel: a Toi & Moi bracelet with diamonds and sapphires in contrasting shades. The 1924 bracelet by Van Cleef & Arpels is a good example of how cyclical fashion can be.

href=”http://www.viannabrasil.com/” rel=”noopener noreferrer” target=”_blank”>Vianna Brasil

What I liked: Brazil is true tourmaline country, so is it hardly a surprise that this was precisely what I found decorating Vianna’s stylish necklace. Green, red, pink and light blue stones in a number of juicy shades give the jewellery a festive, summery atmosphere.

href=”https://www.yaeldesigns.com/” rel=”noopener noreferrer” target=”_blank”>Yael

What I liked: Who would have thought that a combination of soft light-blue moonstone and green-blue opal would look so striking when mixed with bright orange fire opal and granite spessartite? So very simple… A simply enchanting design!

Photo credit: Lordale Benosa