Culture & Style / Designer Profiles
The Jewelry Book Looks Back on 300 Visionaries Who Shaped Jewelry
By Jill Newman, Published: October 8, 2025
From Cartier to Zendaya, The Jewelry Book is a dazzling tribute to the creatives behind the jewels.
A Hemmerle bracelet crafted in iron and white gold set with a 16-carat diamond, circa 2023. The piece is featured on page 133 of The Jewelry Book. (Courtesy of Hemmerle)
Jewelry has always been more than the sum of its parts. Beyond sparkling diamonds and exquisite gemstones, it’s the hands that shape them and the imaginations that envision them that make jewelry truly unforgettable. It’s about transformation—of raw materials into wearable works of art, of personal stories into heirlooms.
The people behind the jewels range from heritage brands to radical independents and unsung heroes. Author and curator Melanie Grant has assembled them all in The Jewelry Book, a dynamic new tome released by Phaidon in September.
Meet the Expert
- Jill Newman is a jewelry authority, editor, and storyteller with over 25 years of experience, having reported from diamond mines in Africa, cutting workshops in India and Belgium, and ateliers around the world.
- She serves as Editor-at-Large for the Natural Diamond Council, with additional bylines in The New York Times, Town & Country, Elle Décor, and Robb Report.
From visionary designers and master artisans to collectors, cutters, stylists, and cultural icons, the book honors 300 names who have shaped the language of jewelry over the past two centuries.
The Jewelry Book Is a 360-Degree Look at Jewelry
“This is a love letter to the high art of jewelry and its utilization of creativity and storytelling,” says New York-based designer Lorraine West, who is included in the book. “There’s such a dynamic array of points of view in design and execution across cultures, spanning over 20 decades. This should be in every jewelry and art lover’s library.”
The London-based author and curator began with over 700 names, ultimately narrowing the list with the help of an advisory board of 17 experts and contributions from 27 jewelry writers. The well-known legends are included here, Cartier, Tiffany & Co., Van Cleef & Arpels, but Grant also shined a light on lesser-known names and unsung heroes. There is Theodoros Savopoulos, the ultra-exclusive Athens-based jeweler who makes minimalist yet sensual creations, and the late Gabriel Tolkowsky, a sixth-generation diamond cutter, whose famous commissions included the 545.67-carat Golden Jubilee diamond, gifted to Thailand’s King Bhumibol.
“It’s a 360-degree look at jewelry,” Melanie Grant tells Only Natural Diamonds. Alphabetized from Adler (the Swiss jeweler) to Zendaya (face of Bulgari’s global campaign), it’s an encyclopedia of the international jewelry world. Grant herself has championed many of its players. A journalist for over 20 years, her first jewelry book, Coveted, was published in 2020, and she curated Brilliant and Black: A Jewelry Renaissance, an exhibition with Sotheby’s in 2021 featuring 21 Black jewelry designers. Most recently, she served as executive director of the Responsible Jewellery Council.
The Jewelry Book Shares Encyclopedic Knowledge of Jewelry Designers and Iconic Aficionados
Diamonds, unsurprisingly, play a big role in the book, with sumptuous images ranging from Hemmerle’s groundbreaking modernist white diamond set on twisted iron to Van Cleef & Arpels’ elaborate mid-century necklace dripping with diamonds. More than simply carat weight, the book showcases the artistry behind diamonds, from cutting to design to the high-profile personalities who flaunt them on the red carpet.
Grant is particularly drawn to pieces that juxtapose tradition with radical materiality. James de Givenchy for Taffin sets diamonds in pebbles, and Maurizio Fioravanti’s Vanguard collection fuses precious stones with carbon fiber. Bina Goenka’s extraordinary Butterfly necklace, nearly five years in the making, weaves 2,900 diamonds, 300 natural pearls, and 5,900 white clam pearls into a voluminous necklace. Another revelation is the work of Theodoros, whose use of large, prong-less diamonds blurs the boundary between metal and stone.
“What I find most thrilling,” Grant says, “is when designers combine old school artistry with tension and modernity. Pairing it with industrial or humble materials, they take away the formality and create a new dialogue.”
Natural Diamonds Remain at the Forefront of Jewelry Design
Still, she’s quick to point out: “A great diamond solitaire will always have a place.”
And then there is the late Ambaji Shinde, unknown to many outside the trade, yet one of the most influential designers of the 20th century. A longtime creative force at Harry Winston, his 1954 diamond scroll necklace, designed with Nanubhai Jhaveri, features varying diamond shapes in a platinum piece that exemplifies mid-century glamour. Shinde’s legacy lives on in sketchbooks he donated to the GIA, a treasure trove for future generations of designers.
The Jewelry Book positions jewelry as a cultural and creative ecosystem shaped as much by stylists and celebrities as by gemologists and goldsmiths. The book also considers timely themes, including sustainability, ethical sourcing, and the shifting demographics of luxury.
“Women are buying their own jewelry,” Grant notes. “And they’re choosing bold, architectural, often radical pieces that speak to their vision. The future of jewelry lies in this interplay between artistry and identity, between legacy and experimentation.”
A Star-Studded Launch for The Jewelry Book
The Jewelry Book was unveiled in September with a series of launch events, starting at Sotheby’s in New York, where designers came out in support. For Lorraine West, it was more than just an inclusion—it was affirmation.
“To be listed among such legends, it’s surreal, deeply humbling, and a moment I’ll treasure,” she says. “Even I learned something new, like Andy Warhol’s obsession with high jewelry. A reminder that jewelry is art.”
London-based goldsmith and artist Joy Bonfield-Colombara echoes this sentiment. “What I think is really interesting about the book is this dichotomy, the traditional houses alongside artists, collectors, musicians, dancers, and patrons that have been so important to the whole ecosystem of the jewelry universe. It reflects how deeply woven jewelry is into the human story.”
