Nadine Ghosn Plays With Utensils for New Jewelry Collection
PARIS — Fine jewelry designer Nadine Ghosn will be presenting a new collection that centers around utensils reimagined as playful luxury bracelets in London on Friday.
The new styles will include diamond-studded curved straw bracelets in gold and silver, as well as gold pieces that look like a pair of chopsticks, a fork and a spoon wrapping around the wrist.
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“The thinking behind this was glorifying these everyday objects and tools,” said Ghosn, who’s often looking to the everyday for inspiration. Her playful takes on burgers, Lego blocks, bicycle chains, pencils and paper clips helped her carve a niche in the industry, and led to major collaborations with the likes of Frieze and celebrity French baker Cédric Grolet.
Clients will be able to customize these styles by adding food-inspired elements to the tip of the luxury utensils in the form of diamonds. “I have friends who are obsessed with Nutella and so one order is really the spoon with this really thick layer of Nutella made with almost 11 carats of brown diamonds,” said the now Singapore-based Ghosn, adding that a spaghetti sauce version had been ordered.
The jeweler said the introduction of this new series aims to ignite a new conversation with her clients who are tired of the traditional perfectly geometrical big stone sets and just want to have fun with jewelry that can showcase their personality.
“What I always like to do is introduce a collection, and it’s always a work in progress because my clients like to customize on their own and that’s the fun of the game. People see pieces and then they want to make the styles more authentic to them. Someone already wants to put green peas on a fork. As a kid, they would never want to eat their peas. I like how it brings humor and playfulness into the game,” she said.
Other customization options include adding one’s name in alphabet soup letters and engraving sweet-nothings for loved ones, Ghosn added.
The new collection starts at $9,800 for the straw styles and $16,000 for the chopsticks, forks and spoon models.
The designer said she wants to create pieces that everyone can relate to regardless of the price point.
“It’s not only for the foodie who recognizes what the shape is, but it’s really for people from anywhere at any age to play with it. I did some research and I haven’t seen a straw glorified like that. Obviously, there are iterations of the cylindrical shapes, but never really like a fork, a spoon or a pair of chopsticks,” Ghosn said.
A new partnership with Sotheby’s is also in the works, Ghosn revealed. She will be the first designer to take over the auction house’s new gallery space in Dubai’s central financial district DIFC this month.
“As the first designer to go in, they’ve asked me to go and do a Q&A and introduce my universe and my thinking behind the jewelry pieces there. They will be the first ones to see my new collection in person.”
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