The independent-jewellery story we have been tracking through 2013 and 2014 hit its strongest gift-buying moment yet at the end of 2014. The maker conversation that had been niche-but-discoverable in 2013 was firmly mainstream by December 2014, the engagement-ring season was producing its highest-ever share of independent-studio commissions, and the gift-buying conversation among the people we knew had effectively become a directory of US small studios. Below, the names we kept giving and receiving as gifts in the year’s closing weeks.
Catbird hit cult-status critical mass
Catbird had been the independent-jewellery reference point of our summer 2013 roundup; by winter 2014 the Brooklyn studio had hit cult-status critical mass. The Threadbare Ring stack had become the wedding-band conversation in the New York creative-class set; the brand’s small Brooklyn shop had a steady weekend wait line; the engagement rings being commissioned through their custom service had a six-month waitlist by mid-December. The piece every gift-buyer we knew was reaching for in late 2014 was the Sweet Nothing necklace — a tiny stamped-letter charm on a fine 14-karat chain — at under one hundred fifty dollars in its plain configuration.
Jacquie Aiche brought body-jewellery to the prestige conversation
Jacquie Aiche’s LA studio, founded in 2008, hit a meaningful moment of national US visibility in late 2014. The work — body chains, layered necklaces with pavé-set diamonds, the occasional turquoise cabochon set in 14-karat gold — had been the LA insider secret for several years, and the brand’s celebrity wearings throughout 2014 (a series of high-profile red-carpet body-chain appearances drove most of it) brought the conversation into broader national editorial coverage. The piece every editor we knew was buying as a gift was the small fingertip ring with a single stone — a delicate piece that worked for women who already had everything else.
Anita Ko was the LA prestige-fine reference
Anita Ko, the LA-based studio that had been quietly producing some of the cleanest fine-diamond work in the country since 2008, had its strongest editorial year in 2014. The brand’s diamond cuff collection — a series of skinny diamond-pavé bangles in 14- and 18-karat gold — had become the prestige-Christmas-gift answer for anyone willing to pay real money for fine jewellery. The work was being stocked at Barneys and being commissioned through small private appointments for the holiday season.
What made Anita Ko’s 2014 moment different from Jacquie Aiche’s was the price tier. Where Jacquie Aiche had a meaningful entry-price tier under five hundred dollars, Anita Ko was solidly in the multi-thousand-dollar fine-jewellery range. The two brands occupied complementary positions on the same LA-prestige map.
Alison Lou played wittier and brighter
Alison Lou, the New York studio founded by Alison Chemla in 2012, was the playful counter-argument to the precious-fine conversation. The work was bright enamel-on-gold — a smiley-face stud, a bright lightning bolt charm, a winking eye on a ring — sized to be witty rather than serious. The brand’s holiday 2014 push delivered some of the best gift photographs of the season, and the under-three-hundred-dollar charm pendants became the prestige stocking-stuffer of choice for anyone shopping for a younger creative friend.
What made Alison Lou specifically a 2014 winner was the price-to-personality ratio. The work was unmistakably handmade in fine materials, but it was deliberately not solemn — and that lightness was the right tone for a year that had seen so much beauty-launch intensity that a smiley-face earring read as relief.
Sophie Bille Brahe’s pearls crossed into US prestige
The Danish studio of Sophie Bille Brahe had been a Copenhagen secret for several years and hit the early phase of US prestige distribution in late 2014. The signature was the freshwater pearl in unconventional settings — a single pearl on a fine threader-chain earring, a pearl-and-gold ear cuff, a curved pearl wrapped in fine 14-karat wire. The work was unmistakable, the price point was reasonable for the metal weight and pearl quality, and the early US editor adoption was strong. The brand would have a much bigger 2015 in the United States.
The independent-bridal conversation had a clear top tier
The independent-bridal conversation we had documented in winter 2013 had matured by late 2014 into a clear top tier. Anna Sheffield kept her position as the editorial reference for antique-feeling solitaires; Mociun had become the alternative-stone reference for anyone who wanted an unusual sapphire or champagne diamond. Loren Stewart remained the simple-band workhorse. The combination of the three studios meant any independent-bridal request had a clear three-option starting point.
Why this still mattered
The argument we made in winter 2013 — that independent jewellery offered better materials, better stories, and pieces that did not show up on six other people in the same room — had only got stronger by winter 2014. The chain-store mall-jewellery model had measurably weakened in our friend group’s gift-buying patterns, the discovery problem was solved, and the independent studios were operating at scale that had not existed eighteen months earlier.
We will see you in summer 2015 for the next jewellery roundup. Between now and then, expect at least one of the names above to launch a wider distribution deal — and at least one new studio to break into the same conversation. Happy New Year.