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Melanie Grant’s New Book Explores 200 Years of Jewelry
“The Jewelry Book” comes out this September.
“The Jewelry Book,” edited by Melanie Grant, highlights the artists, creative houses, collectors, and style icons who have played a role in defining jewelry.
New York—Jewelry writer and curator Melanie Grant has a new book coming out in September.
“The Jewelry Book,” is an expansive exploration of more than 300 contributors to jewelry, spanning more than 200 years, celebrating renowned and under-the-radar designers alike.
“The Jewelry Book,” is an expansive exploration of more than 300 contributors to jewelry, spanning more than 200 years, celebrating renowned and under-the-radar designers alike.
Works by Wallace Chan, Elsa Schiaparelli, Suzanne Belperron, and Bhagat appear alongside trailblazers such as Maōri jade carver Joel Marsters and Winifred Mason Chenet, a pioneering Black metalsmith and designer.
The book offers insight into the artists, creative houses, collectors, and style icons who have played a role in defining jewelry.
A Hemmerle bracelet, circa 2023, in iron and white gold set with a diamond weighing more than 16 carats. It appears on page 133 of “The Jewelry Book.” The company was established in Munich, Germany, in 1893. (Image credit: hemmerle.com)
It highlights historic houses such as Cartier, Tiffany & Co., Van Cleef & Arpels, Bulgari, Chaumet, Harry Winston, and Chopard, while also touching on Chanel pearls and Hemmerle jewels and notable pieces worn by the Notorious B.I.G. and Greta Garbo.
The book shines a light on the figures that have influenced and reimagined the pieces they wear, such as Beyoncé’s collaborative work with big players such as Tiffany & Co. and Lorraine Schwartz, while also championing independent jewelry makers like Lorraine West.
“The Jewelry Book” highlights figures that have influenced and reimagined the pieces they wear.
The book also acknowledges sustainability movements in the industry backed by millennials and Gen Z.
It explores how the new generation of jewelers “break the rules” and pay homage to jewelry traditions.
“The Jewelry Book” also highlights ways that unorthodox materials are appearing in high jewelry.
Examples include black sand at Boucheron led by Creative Director Claire Choisne, and wood, steel, and pebbles at Taffin directed by James de Givenchy, as well as John Moore’s creations of gargantuan neckpieces made out of Morphit—clay mixed with recycled paper—and Joe Sheehan’s chains made out of argillite, basalt, and graywacke.
In addition, the book showcases the work of artists like Louise Bourgeois and Salvador Dalí, as well as archival illustrations, campaigns, and editorial photos by Irving Penn, Toni Frissell, Juergen Teller, and Roxanne Lowit among others.
The book was edited by Melanie Grant, who authored the book “Coveted” in 2020.
The London-based writer has work in The Times, the Financial Times, Independent, Guardian, the BBC, the Economist, Vogue, Vanity Fair, Tatler, and The New York Times.
She has also curated for Sotheby’s as well as Kensington Palace. She served as executive director for the Responsible Jewellery Council from 2023 to 2025 where she continues to consult.
“Jewelry is perhaps the most enduring expression of freedom that exists in material culture…” Grant writes in "The Jewelry Book” introduction.
The book's contents have been curated by industry experts and writers including Sarah Royce-Greensill at The Telegraph; Anthony DeMarco and Kate Matthams at Forbes; Ranyechi Udemezue at British Vogue; Hannah Silver at Wallpaper; Coco Romack at T: New York Times Style Magazine; Felix Bischof at The Week Fashion; Tanya Dukes, regular contributor to The New York Times; and curator Emily Stoehrer at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.
Entries are accompanied by large-scale images that showcase a diverse array of jewelry, from diamond jewels by Moussaieff and Graff to an 18-karat gold ring hand-carved by Haroldo Burle Marx.
Additional texts explaining each entry’s relevance within the broader context of jewelry are also included, as well as a directory with a selected list of galleries, institutions, and other jewelry organizations and destinations.
“The Jewelry Book,” published by Phaidon, is “the most comprehensive A-to-Z guide to the glorious, yet often secret, world of jewelry today,” the publishing company said.
Its release is set for September, priced at $79.95.
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