Marion Fasel
Books Every Jewelry Designer Should Read
A problem for jewelry designers or any fine jewelry enthusiast is finding a place to study historical work. Unlike other areas of the arts, there are not many museums with galleries devoted to jewelry. Only a few have 20th-century fine jewelry on permanent display and you will only see a small number of pieces.
Jewelry-design schools are just as rare. To be a jewelry designer is a calling. You have to actively seek an education and books are one of the best resources.
All the publications on my short list are favorites I have returned to again and again. These books open up worlds of beauty and adventure. There is everything from stories about royalty and their search for rare gems to the importance of jewels in the most humble societies, plus a lot of artistry that falls between these two extremes.
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Talented but little-known American jewelry designers of the early 20th century are given their due in this gloriously illustrated book.
Many artists, including Picasso, Braque, and Dali, made jewelry, but none did it as well or prolifically as Alexander Calder.
There have been many books on the history of Cartier, but this is the first and, I believe, the best. It reveals how the French jeweler created the most exceptional jewels of the Art Deco period.
Elizabeth Taylor’s mode of collecting was the antithesis of the Duchess of Windsor’s disciplined good taste. Taylor liked everything sparkly! The brief anecdotes accompanying the pictures are a fun behind-the-scenes glimpse of the actress’s legendary life—even if several of the stories have proved to be embellished for dramatic effect.
The only book Elsa Peretti has ever published is a work of art with loose pages decorated like a scrapbook of pictures, sources of inspiration, and brief anecdotes about her design process.
There is a lot of drama, as one might expect, in the history of the French crown jewels. This exhaustively researched publication covers it all, including the sale of the collection. Members of the Third Republic believed any family who had worn the jewels might suddenly claim them—and the political power they represented—if the jewels remained in the French treasury. American jewelry kingpin Charles Lewis Tiffany bought most of the French jewels for his Gilded Age clients.
An Art Nouveau jewelry designer, artist, and author, Henri Vever produced this seminal book over 100 years ago in French, but it has been translated into English only relatively recently. It reviews masterpieces from the turn of the century at the time when this revolutionary work was created.
Like so many aspects of ancient Greece there is an impossible beauty to the gold jewelry. No one is quite sure exactly how the craftsmen created it and no one is capable of recreating the techniques in the same way today.
I don’t know of any other book that defines jewelry terms as comprehensively as this publication.
This 552-page labor of love covers a vast array of jewelry and the symbolism of various styles during the Victorian era.
A delightful narrative nonfiction highlighting the history of gems, contemporary stone dealers, and hard-core rock hounds.
Possibly the greatest fine jewelry collection in the world. The Duchess of Windsor worked closely with designers to come up with stylish pieces. The jewels chart her love life with the Duke of Windsor—for example, the melodramatic inscription on her engagement ring, “We are ours now.” She received the ring before the Duke (Edward VIII) abdicated the British throne. The quotation and date of the inscription mark the occasion of the future Duchess’s divorce proceedings from her second husband, Ernest Simpson.
India imbues jewelry with more meaning than any other culture. This book covers everything from Mugal diamond styles to base-metal bangles.
Announcements
Now is Better by Stefan Sagmeister
Now is Better
By Stefan Sagmeister
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Published: October 2023
Combining art, design, history, and quantitative analysis, transforms data sets into stunning artworks that underscore his positive view of human progress, inspiring us to think about the future with much-needed hope.
Design Emergency: Building a Better Future by Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli
Design Emergency: Building a Better Future
By Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Published: May 2022
Rawsthorn and Antonelli tell the stories of the remarkable designers, architects, engineers, artists, scientists, and activists who are at the forefront of positive change worldwide. Focusing on four themes—Technology, Society, Communication, and Ecology—the authors present a unique portrait of how our great creative minds are developing new design solutions to the major challenges of our time, while helping us to benefit from advances in science and technology.
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Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World’s Most Creative People by Debbie Millman
Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World's Most Creative People
By Debbie Millman
Publisher: Harper Design
Published: February 22, 2022
Debbie Millman—author, educator, brand consultant, and host of the widely successful and award-winning podcast “Design Matters”—showcases dozens of her most exciting interviews, bringing together insights and reflections from today’s leading creative minds from across diverse fields.
Milton Glaser: POP by Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber
Milton Glaser: POP
By Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber
Publisher: The Monacelli Press
Published: March 2023
This collection of work from graphci design legend Milton Glaser’s Pop period features hundreds of examples of the designer’s work that have not been seen since their original publication, demonstrating the graphic revolution that transformed design and popular culture.
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Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall by Alexandra Lange
Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall
By Alexandra Lange
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Published: June 2022
Chronicles postwar architects’ and merchants’ invention of the shopping mall, revealing how the design of these marketplaces played an integral role in their cultural ascent. Publishers Weekly writes, “Contending that malls answer ‘the basic human need’ of bringing people together, influential design critic Lange advocates for retrofitting abandoned shopping centers into college campuses, senior housing, and ‘ethnocentric marketplaces’ catering to immigrant communities. Lucid and well researched, this is an insightful study of an overlooked and undervalued architectural form.”
Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911 (Facsimile Edition) by Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller
Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911 (Facsimile Edition)
By Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller
Publisher: Letterform Archives Books
Published: October 2023
This facsimile edition of Die Fläche, recreates every page of the formative design periodical in full color and at original size, accompanied by essays that contextualize the work, highlighting contributions by pathbreaking women, innovative lettering artists, and key practitioners of the new “surface art,” including Rudolf von Larisch, Alfred Roller, and Wiener Werkstätte founders Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffmann.
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