Platinum at COUTURE

Designer Lauren Godfrey of Harwell Godfrey has a unique style that makes her pieces instantly recognizable. Her thoughtful jewelry designs are inspired by ancient textiles and ethnic patterns with a healing energy in mind for the wearer. Lauren enjoyed her experience creating her first platinum ring and noted how different its qualities are from yellow gold. “Platinum has a completely different look and feel from 18k yellow gold, which is what I normally work in,” she explained. “I tend to work with a lot of colorful gemstones, but with platinum I thought it was a great opportunity to highlight a diamond as the center stone.” When asked if she thought she would work in platinum again, Lauren said, “I do. I am interested in creating more engagement rings and bridal settings, so I anticipate a lot more platinum in my future.” Shop Harwell Godfrey’s platinum ring in our gallery here.

Kristy Stone, the designer for Retrouvai, has a love of vintage style that she incorporates with modern elements to create contemporary jewelry of heirloom quality. Kristy had previously worked with platinum for bridal jewelry, but she took this opportunity to expand her larger collection by adding a platinum necklace to her popular Magna Collection. “I am so pleased with the result,” Kristy said. “I held off on expanding the collection into necklaces for years and platinum felt like the right material for the initial foray.” The necklace went on to win the Couture Design Award in the Platinum category at the Couture Show. View it in our gallery here.

Designer Brent Neale is known for her colorful pieces with unique symbols and mantras that have become popular among luxury fashion lovers. For her first time working in platinum, she decided to recreate her iconic magic mushroom as a platinum pendant. Brent loved the experience of working with the metal and even created an additional piece – a platinum band. Shop Brent Neale’s new platinum pieces in our gallery here.

Husband and wife duo, Yves Spinelli and Dwyer Kilcollin, founded Spinelli Kilcollin in 2010. They’re most known for their interconnected Galaxy rings, which are designed to be worn stacked or across different fingers. They debuted a new ring called Ceres Platinum at COUTURE, which was their first released design in all platinum. Dwyer spoke about why platinum’s rarity creates the most unique jewelry. “Platinum offers a fabulous weight and tactility to a piece, but the most unique aspect for us is its sincere uniqueness. As a metal so much more rare than others like gold, platinum offers an undeniable distinctiveness to each piece.”

Designer Mollie Faith Good and her business partner, Stephanie Walters Abramow, founded the brand Walters Faith in 2013. Their classic silhouettes with innovative details have become known for effortless luxury. Mollie and Stephanie had previously only worked in platinum for bespoke pieces, but after this project, they’ve been inspired to offer any of their core pieces in platinum. They created a platinum band for their C II collection, which is an extension of the popular CLIVE collection. They explained, “Platinum is a beautiful precious metal and this was the perfect opportunity for us. It is wonderful to work with, easy to cast, file and polish, and the consistency in its beautiful white color is amazing.”

Designer Suzanne Kalan is known for her innovative and proprietary Fireworks process of setting stones in tilted, unique positions, exploring the delicate balance between symmetry and asymmetry. Suzanne has created special request bridal designs in platinum throughout her career, noting that “Platinum is more durable and couples tend to request it so they have the confidence it will last a lifetime.” For COUTURE, Susan created a wide platinum band with staggered white diamonds that sparkles from every angle in every light. Speaking about the band she said, “It’s stunning, in fact, I love it. It’s come out far better than I ever imagined. I‘m seriously thinking of keeping it for myself!” 

Stephen Webster is known for his avant-garde, edgy designs inspired by traditional British craftsmanship. Stephen Webster had previously only worked in platinum for bespoke pieces. For this program, Stephen created a two-ring concept for his most recent collection, Thorn Embrace. He hoped his edgy ring designs at COUTURE would demonstrate that platinum can be excellent for nontraditional jewelry. 

Zoe Chico’s classic, chic designs are inspired by her respect of art, fashion, and the inspiring women in her life. This collaboration was Zoe’s first time working in platinum, and she actually created a capsule collection including earrings, a necklace, a ring, and a cuff bracelet. Despite her initial hesitation to work with the new material, she greatly enjoyed working with platinum’s unique qualities. Zoe explained, “platinum is heavier, more dense and harder than gold. One of the things I really like about it is that it is one of the purest metals, it is very durable, and it doesn’t need to be plated to keep its color.” Zoe was very pleased with how the platinum collection turned out, and the feeling of luxury that platinum contributed to her designs. “There is really nice weight to the platinum that just feels luxurious, and it really complements the diamonds so well and makes them the stars of the show.”