PHOTO COURTESY OF TIFFANY & CO.
Few jewellery motifs carry the joyful imagination of Tiffany & Co.’s Bird on a Rock. French designer Jean Schlumberger first conceived the design in 1965. A yellow cockatoo he encountered during his travels across Asia and the Caribbean provided the spark. More than six decades on, the whimsical bird remains one of the maison’s most celebrated icons.
Its most celebrated moment came in 1995, when it served as the setting for the legendary Tiffany Diamond. Now, under the creative direction of senior vice president and chief artistic officer Nathalie Verdeille, the motif takes flight once more. The new collection expands the design across fine and high jewellery, balancing Schlumberger’s spirit with a contemporary eye.
In the figural Bird on a Rock pieces, hand-sculpted 18K yellow gold birds appear almost animated. Textured wings draw on Schlumberger’s archival Flames earrings, while engraved chevrons and hand-set diamonds add further dimension. Each bird requires master artisans sculpting and assembling seven components by hand.
PHOTO COURTESY OF TIFFANY & CO.
Then the abstract Wings range distils the bird to its most evocative element. Spanning necklaces, earrings, bracelets, pendants and sculptural metal-only rings, the designs feature alternating platinum and 18K gold forms engineered to nest together. Channel-set diamonds require neither prongs or beads, allowing maximum brilliance across every surface.
PHOTO COURTESY OF TIFFANY & CO.
Lastly, set your eyes on Feathers, perhaps the most spectacular expression of Tiffany & Co.’s Bird on a Rock collection. Developed over nearly three years, this high jewellery suite of necklaces reinterprets the bird’s collar plumage. Sculptural compositions of platinum, 18K gold and diamonds balance abstraction with naturalism, proof that Schlumberger’s bird still has plenty of flight left.
