David Morris unveils Skylines high jewellery collection in Paris

By Kim Parker

It bodes well for a jewellery brand when you discover that, on the day it launches its latest, most luxurious high jewellery collection, two of the pieces are sadly unavailable to preview – because they are currently on tour with Beyoncé. At David Morris, however, this kind of thing isn’t unusual – the London jeweller is beloved by clientele for sourcing some of the brightest, most opulent gemstones around and Skylines, its newest collection of pieces, is positively stuffed with them.

Though London isn’t necessarily known for the beauty of its night sky (indeed, light pollution ensures all but the very brightest of stars remain hidden to its inhabitants), David Morris was inspired by both the ever-shifting lines of the Capital’s skyline and the twinkling radiance of the heavenly bodies above it. The result is Skylines, a collection of 20 new high jewellery pieces each designed in the jeweller’s own studio on Bond Street.

“Walking through London every day on my way to our Bond Street head office and atelier, I’m often in awe of the eclectic mix of architecture, and the speed at which the city is changing, with shimmering steel and glass structures rising above Regency-style buildings and reaching for the sky,” says Jeremy Morris, CEO and Creative Director.

Linear settings and geometric formations have been designed to echo the way light reflects off a skyscraper, with colourful gemstones adding shimmering depth and contrast. Over 48 carats of blue sapphires and 24.82 carats of white diamonds are arranged in tessellating rows of triangular and kite-shaped drops in the new Mosaica necklace (above), in a nod to the multi-windowed façades of iconic London landmarks such as The Shard and The Gherkin. The flexible Fusion bangle also shares this clean, sculptural feeling, with marquise-cut diamonds and pavé chevron links forming a repeating pattern, like the motifs one might find on an Art Deco building.

There are standout rings aplenty, too. The Aurora Maelstrom ring, inspired by the Roman goddess of the dawn, features a magnificent and rare fancy intense blue diamond, wreathed in scalloped lines of white diamonds and David Morris’ signature pinks, like a shaft of light dissipating London’s early morning mist. Meanwhile, the Electra ring dazzles with Jazz Age-inflected rows of diamonds set in a base of apple-green chrysoprase, leading to a central 5.49ct tsavorite.

For the Meteora earrings, graphic rows of white diamonds are transformed into curved arcs and interspersed with cool jet-black onyx as if to evoke the toughness of city life. These are softened with the addition of orange-pink tourmalines, which shine out from their monochrome settings, like the warm glow of sunlight against concrete.

“As a designer it is important to always be looking for new angles and fresh inspiration in the everyday,” says Jeremy Morris of his approach to the new pieces. “When designing the Skylines collection, I didn’t need to venture very far for inspiration – in a dynamic, always-alive city like London, it is all around us from the urban landscape of the streets to the skies above.” We can’t wait to see what else develops from this extraordinary collection – assuming Beyoncé doesn’t get there first.

Like this? Read about Like A Queen: the regal new high jewellery collection by Boucheron