A lady with a love for literature and shiny things discusses books & bling.
Hello again, my darlings!
I’m home from the wilds of Italy (and the wine bars of Italy) and I have so much to show you! It’s going to take me a little while to sort through all my photos and get them ready to show you, so here’s a little sneak preview in the from of the top Instagram posts from my Italian adventures.
Stay tuned for more soon!
xoxo,
Becky
Anyone familiar with the jewelry world has heard of Forevermark – I definitely have, but I didn’t really know much about them beyond the fact that I once read a great book about the woman who wrote their legendary slogan (“A diamond is forever”). At least, that was the case until last month, when I had the great pleasure of attending Forevermark’s beautiful Bridal Academy in NYC.
The Forevermark Bridal Academy is a celebration of wedding season, and therefore focused largely on bridal trends (as one might expect) but it also offered a comprehensive introduction into the brand itself – the company’s values, its processes, and what makes it so successful.
It also didn’t hurt that the event was held at a 1920’s mansion straight out of my most decadent Gatsby-era dreams.
Not that viewing a wide selection of diamond jewelry is ever unpleasant, but it didn’t hurt that I was doing it somewhere so gorgeous. Forevermark knows how to throw a press event.
One of my very favorite elements of the Bridal Academy is that, in addition to the iced tea bar, social media photo area, and beautiful cases full of diamond jewelry, Forevermark included a large exhibit just about the brand’s commitment to responsible sourcing. The exhibit gave an overview of the journey a Forevermark diamond takes from from rough to polished stone and the care that Forevermark takes to ensure responsible business practices, support for the advancement of women, and protection of the natural world.
I’ve been to a lot of jewelry events, and it’s rare to see someone put the accountability of their mining process front and center the way that Forevermark did at the Bridal Academy. Color me impressed.
Forevermark’s selection process is noteworthy, too – their quality standards are so rigorous that less than 1% of the world’s diamonds qualify. They’re a part of the De Beers Group of Companies (and I know you’ve heard of De Beers), which means that Forevermark is able to draw on over 128 years of diamond expertise. Their finely-tuned selection process goes beyond the standard 4Cs to identify the world’s most beautiful diamonds.
Those exceptional diamonds that do qualify are then inscribed using a proprietary process that marks their table facet with the Forevermark symbol and a unique number, to mark them indelibly as Forevermark quality and make every Forevermark diamond identifiable – kind of like a VIN number, unique to the stone. Even small diamonds can be inscribed, down to stones as tiny as a 0.1 carat diamond.
But that doesn’t mean you’ll look into your diamond and see a numbers or a logo: the inscription will be 1/20th of a micron deep – 1/5,000th the depth of a human hair. You’ll never know it’s there.
This can also come in handy if you ever need to make sure that your diamond hasn’t been stolen and replaced, which actually happened to a friend of mine: he discovered an untrustworthy jeweler was taking small diamonds out of his wife’s engagement ring and replacing them with fake stones, but because the center diamond had been inscribed with an identification number, he was able to verify beyond the shadow of a doubt that it was still the original stone).
The most fun part of the Bridal Academy for me was getting to see pieces by so many different designers using Forevermark’s beautiful stones. There was a wide variety of designs on display, from classic engagement rings to edgy ear cuffs and decadent necklaces.
If you’ve browsed much jewelry online, you’ve already heard of Oakgem – the 30 year veteran jewelry store, based in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, is well known for their eclectic collection of fine estate and designer jewelry. If you’ve spent any time at all browsing jewelry on 1stdibs or even on Pinterest, you’ve probably found your way to an Oakgem piece.
They’re also known for their selection of flatware and United States coins, but we’re not going to talk about those categories here today (although I really do think rare coins are cool).
My very favorite thing about Oakgem is the incredible variety you can find there. It’s not just that they have a lot of different kinds of pieces, but they have a lot of different kinds of pieces that are all remarkable. My Oakgem wishlist has pieces that span hundreds of years, all noteworthy. That’s hard to find.
To give you an idea of the kinds of pieces I’m talking about, I’m going to walk through my personal Oakgem wishlist. Well – an abbreviated version thereof. My full list of pieces from Oakgem I’d like to own is terrifyingly long.
I thought we’d start with a quartet of rings, because that’s always a good place to start! These are all estate and all absurdly fabulous.
Top left is rock crystal with onyx and diamonds; top right is a fan-shaped design by Georland France in turquoise, onyx, and diamonds; bottom right is a 1960’s gold, diamond, and turquoise cluster; and bottom left is a 1960’s Cartier piece with ruby and turquoise in gold.
This 1980’s David Webb azurite set is a bit chunkier that what I usually go for, but I swoon for the big, beautiful pieces of that magical blue-green stone.
And if I ever did get the funds together to achieve my jewelry bucket list item of a David Webb azurite piece, Oakgem would be a great place to do it – their flawless reputation means you can rest easy that any signed pieces they offer have been properly authenticated.
These gorgeous antique day-to-night earrings are convertible: the larger, lower parts detach and the upper elements can be worn as a more subtle pair of earrings. They’re rose-cut diamonds in silver over gold, and – most interestingly – the designers is Tiffany & Co.. It’s unusual to see a piece like this from the great T & Co.