There are few jewellery houses whose pieces are as instantly recognisable as Harry Winston’s.
Known as the “King of Diamonds” the pioneering American jeweller had a simple-yet-stunningly-effective technique for ensuring his jewels were as spectacular as possible: the diamonds should dictate the design, not the other way around. It’s this philosophy that helped to inspire what became arguably Winton’s most iconic silhouette – the Harry Winston Cluster.
Legend has it that one wintry evening in the 1940’s, Winston was standing in front of a holly wreath on the door of his Scarsdale home when he was struck by the way icy crystals of snow and frost had formed on its leaves. He imagined being able to strip back these leaves, envisioning the wreath instead as a geometric array of diamonds set within an angled lattice, all held in place with a minimal amount of metal.
To realise what became known as the ‘Harry Winston Cluster’, Winston turned to his talented head designer, Nevdon Koumrouyan. Koumrouyan designed mostly in pencil or gouache, translating Winston’s diamond-first philosophy into fluid, multi-dimensional jewels that were coveted by collectors from New York to Paris — famously the Duchess of Windsor was a client.
Though it’s based on a relatively simple idea, the Winston Cluster setting is fiendishly difficult to execute, requiring the grouping together of various cut and shapes of diamonds, including pear, marquise and round brilliants. Set in what appears to be an irregular pattern, each of these stones has in fact been positioned with mathematical precision to reflect light from every direction, resulting in a dazzling sparkle (ensuring the design remains a red carpet favourite to this day).
Today, the Cluster setting remains central to the modern Winston workshop, where in-house artisans uphold the tradition with the same meticulous devotion as Koumrouyan once did. Whether in earrings, pendants or rings, the Cluster aesthetic continues to embody Winston’s core vision of allowing the diamonds dictate the design of the jewel.
Perhaps one of the most perfect examples of this is Harry Winston’s Diamond Wreath Necklace which, from diamond sourcing to final setting, can take more than a year to create. In The Winston Cluster Colour collection, marquise and pear-shaped diamonds are combined with vibrant rubies, emeralds and pink or blue sapphires, set at varied angles in near-invisible platinum, creating starbursts of brilliance.
Over eighty years after that snowy night in Scarsdale, the Harry Winston Cluster setting has transcended the boundaries of good design, becoming a signature silhouette that highlights the very best of American craftsmanship and luxury.
