Jewellery having a moment?

Recently, my Instagram feed has been interrupted by a twisty, tangerine-toned, wire-like ring wrapped around the fingers of influencers, celebrities and editors alike.

U ntil a closer, microscopic view of the jewellery item, there was no knowing what that candy-coloured glass could be. After much digging, I discovered it was the result of new-age fine jewellery label, Bea Bongiasca’s inimitable use of the art of enamelling. This kind of pop-arty use of the metal-coating technique in jewellery making, feels fresh and unique. Novelty, of course, but who needs anything ordinary anyway.
Enamelling, the decorative coating technique, is not new to the jewellery world. Meenakari jewellery of Persia and then India have long used the method to make intricate designs with mesmerising colours. Enamelling has often created intriguing art-mimics-life moments in jewellery. However, far from its Art Nouveau period connotations, as seen on elaborately decorated Faberge eggs, enamel fine jewellery today is pop-arty (as seen in Bea Bongiasca’s fluorescent rings and earrings), childlike (a la Roxanne Assoulin’s ’90s beaded bracelets), and graphic or geometric (like Alice Cicolini’s bold black and white clean lines behind juicy emerald earrings). From its coatings on kundan polki contemporary necklaces, to emblematic evil eye imagery on bracelets, enamelling is finding a new and improved variation today. Lavish them below…