Injecting bold colour into the new year, Garrard has expanded its popular Fanfare collection with a new range of refreshingly contemporary Fanfare Symphony jewels. Each piece contrasts the vibrancy of the House’s signature coloured gemstones with the unique beauty of ornamental hardstones.
The original Fanfare collection was inspired by the precious fans carried by guests at the opera masquerades that were the height of fashion in London’s theatre district when Garrard opened its first boutique there in 1735. For the new Fanfare Symphony jewels, Garrard’s designers revisited these spirited masquerades, interpreting instead the symphony of colour unleashed as ladies swirled around the ballrooms in their extravagant gowns.
Looking to expand the theme of colour that infused the original Fanfare collection, Garrard’s designers turned to the diverse world of hardstones for an exciting new palette with which to work. Creating mood boards featuring different combinations of gemstones and hardstones, they narrowed them down until they were left with the most harmonious pairings.
Next, they set to work designing the jewels – more than 40 in total – finessing their sketches until they had achieved the perfect balance between the opacity and tonal variations of the hardstones and the fire and translucency of the coloured precious and semi-precious gemstones. Only then could Garrard’s craftspeople begin their task of bringing them to vivid life.
The gemstone and hardstone pairings in the Fanfare Symphony collection are a captivating reminder of this fun-loving period in Garrard’s history. Designed to accentuate the primary hue of each jewel, pink tourmaline is combined with pink opal; emerald with malachite; sapphire with lapis lazuli; aquamarine with turquoise; yellow sapphire with cachalong; ruby with hematite; and white diamond with mother-of-pearl.
Retaining the generous size and strong silhouettes of the original Fanfare Classic jewels, these creative combinations trace the outline of each Fanfare motif, with the carved hardstones set alongside faceted pavé gemstones.
A more stylised Fanfare silhouette has been introduced into these new jewels, which have been created to be worn anytime, anywhere. Distinguished by bold flashes of hardstones set to mimic the pleats of a fan, it appears on stylish Fanfare Symphony stud earrings and delicate pendants, together with asymmetric rings featuring two delicately angled fans that sit side by side upon the finger for double impact (image left).
Other creations remain faithful to the original openwork Fanfare design but with a twist, setting the motif’s sweeping curves at artful angles on rings and necklaces, capturing the drama and mystique of the collection (images below). Elegantly interwoven into the jewels is another design code of the House: the Garrard Windsor motif, formed of geometric shapes that reference Queen Mary’s Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara.
The Fanfare Symphony jewels are a beautiful evolution of the Fanfare collection, which launched in 2018 and quickly became one of Garrard’s strongest-performing collections. “The Fanfare Symphony collection celebrates the wonderful diversity of ornamental hardstones, which have such a different look and feel to traditional gemstones,” explains Sara Prentice, Creative Director at Garrard. “The array of new designs brings an exciting dimension to the collection.”
Capturing the alluring femininity and expressive colour of the new collection, Garrard’s Fanfare Symphony model campaign showcases the new jewels alongside beautiful couture gowns and an array of handcrafted fans. Photographed by Damian Foxe, with styling by Elad Bitton, the couture gowns featured within the images were kindly lent by Suzie Turner Couture and Aadnevik.