Jewelry Report
One-and-done pieces, vintage finds, jewelry boxes, heat for the fellas, gift ideas & more in a Concorde Intel Abbondanza
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There’s a 60-something woman that I (Erin) and Jonah see all the time on this one hiking route we do, and her commitment to jewelry is an inspiration. She climbs a steep incline rocking a tank top, wraparound sunglasses, and an armful of wide silver bracelets, stacked from wrist to elbow. These bracelets are clearly so crucial to her signature look that she refuses to leave them at home, even when shvitzing uphill in the great outdoors.
Jewelry is rare in this regard: Besides tattoos, what other adornments do so many of us put on once, and then never take off again? I have a couple always-on pieces — a delicate gold chain, and a hoop earring that seems to have fused with my earlobe. When I met up with the visionary jewelry designer and Spyfriend Zoé Mohm in Paris this summer, she confided in me that the tubular gold bangle on her wrist couldn’t come off if she wanted — it’s too small to ever slip back over her hand. And when we talked to Cameron and Max from Geese, Max told us about a necklace that he literally can’t remove without bolt cutters.
Finding pieces that capture your particular esprit — to the degree you don’t ever want to take them off — can be tough. No wonder I get so many reader questions about jewelry.
That’s why I’ve spent the last few months building out a highly-edited yet monumental dossier on the swaggiest pieces being made right now.
O yes! Today we’re launching the Concorde Jewelry Guide, a true abbondanza of the coolest pieces from independent designers, broken down by styles and motifs. Some of these makers just launched in the past year. Others have been doing their thing for decades.
There’s also vintage search terms; functional, jewelry-adjacent objects, e.g., pill cases, cigarette holders, cutlery and candelabras; hair jewelry; new and vintage artisanal jewelry boxes; plus some pins, bracelets and rings for the jewelry-curious fellas amongst us.
While this is not a gift guide, a lot of these finds would make excellent presents.
As always, you can find every jewelry maker I’ve saluted in Concorde in The Concorde Index. My Jewelry Intel Report from 2023 is still very much worth looking at, too, and not just for the tips on how to build out a jewelry arsenal.
Let’s get to it —