Carnet by Michelle Ong

Michelle Ong established Carnet, her Hong Kong-based boutique jewelry house, over twenty-five years ago, and her unique one-off creations draw on Chinese motifs and her love of European culture and craftsmanship. Her multi-hued jewels crystallize natural forms with invisible mastery. The hovering translucency of dragonfly wings, the succulence of ripe fruits, the whisper-light touch of a feather, the seductive fragility of black lace, meticulously hand-wrought from silver, the velvet petals of an anemone, a voluptuously curled seashell, the evanescence of a floating cloud evoked in a scroll of diamonds: each jewel is a miniature sculptural work of art. Jade, China s imperial gemstone, is reworked into an Art Deco-style cocktail ring. Her Chinese dragon, a fiercely benign creature, writhes in blackened gold and pavé-set emeralds, breathing a stream of fiery rubies. Ong s work is now acknowledged among the greatest names in high jewelry, renowned for her sublime designs, idiosyncratic colour combinations and deft craftsmanship.