The Art of the Sea
Tiffany’s 2015 Blue Book arrives with a breathtaking celebration of the sea in all its power and mystery. The epitome of the jeweler’s art, these one-of-a-kind creations flow with the force of nature, launching the legacy of Blue Book into a new season of glamour.
Blue Book is the single greatest showcase for Tiffany’s spectacular jewels. Its influence among collectors and connoisseurs is legendary. The 2015 collection, Design Director Francesca Amfitheatrof’s first, combines audacious style with fluid grace and the sea’s boundless energy.
“Our Blue Book jewellery honours the sea as the source of life and acknowledges the many ways we are inexorably linked to the natural world,” Amfitheatrof says. Her dazzling tribute to the sea and its beauty also reflects the mission of the Tiffany & Co. Foundation to support coral conservation and safeguard marine ecosystems, as well as the company’s commitment to responsible sourcing of diamonds and precious metals.
Tiffany diamonds surge through Blue Book like a rising tide of pure brilliance. Amfitheatrof creates whirlpools of baguette and round diamonds that flow along the neckline and drape the wrist. She designs a ring with pear-shaped diamonds layered like the feathers of seabirds riding the waves, and anchors waterfalls of diamonds with gleaming black opals.
The jeweler’s coloured diamonds are renowned for the highest standards of clarity and saturation. The pebble ring is noteworthy for its blue diamonds that number over four hundred. It is very unusual to acquire a wealth of such exceedingly rare stones. Each is hand-cut and set in a curvaceous mounting that reflects the sea’s power to sculpt stones over millennia. Other rings include a 3.03-carat Fancy Intense Blue diamond that beckons like a tropical isle; blue-green diamonds that blend the colours of sea and sky; and yellow diamonds sparkling like sunlight on the water.
Blue Book features Amfitheatrof’s magical interpretations of 19th-century designs from the Tiffany Archives. A pocket watch with an interlocking chain inspires a necklace of graduated links, flexible and covered in diamonds; and a Japanesque wavelike pattern forms elegant diamond bracelets with 18 karat gold.
Pearls are the natural treasures of Amfitheatrof’s fantastic undersea world. South Sea white, golden and Tahitian cultured pearls exemplify Tiffany’s reputation for the most exotic and beautiful gems on earth. Matched for size and colour, these lustrous spheres are assembled in luxurious strands; mounted in rings that bubble with light; and are suspended from 18 karat gold bracelets with diamonds undulating like the ocean’s currents.
Tiffany’s gemstones radiate a colourful splendor, reflecting a heritage of discovery and innovation. Amfitheatrof builds on it with magnificent bracelets featuring a 21.04-carat aquamarine surrounded by spessartites, tsavorites and sapphires floating over a seabed of aquamarines; and a 32.05-carat rubellite, an underlay of pink sapphires and diamonds in a coral motif.
Other Blue Book jewels explore the sea’s hypnotic movement and the varying colours created as light penetrates water. These include earrings with blue tourmalines shimmering like sea spray; a ring with many sapphires, shades of paradise swirling around a 21.66-carat chrysocolla; rings of blue-violet tanzanites polished by the wind and waves; a sapphire and diamond bracelet glinting with the colours of rivers and rapids; and a necklace of aquamarines and turquoise in a lush, organic formation.
“Blue Book is an important symbol of Tiffany & Co.,” says Amfitheatrof. “Its rich heritage draws the finest artisans, who create a world of luxury that no other jeweler can equal. To design this important collection with these talented people and the most extraordinary gems is an honour and a privilege.”
The Legacy
Tiffany’s celebrated Blue Book, the jeweler’s annual publication that showcases the world’s most spectacular jewels, has been arriving at customers’ homes since 1845. Founder Charles Lewis Tiffany (1812–1902) designed it as a personal communication and service to his customers. Over time the book grew to include glossy photographs and a Tiffany Blue® cover, the distinctive robin’s-egg blue that famously graces the jeweler’s boxes. This vibrant hue is today an international symbol of style and sophistication.
The Blue Book archive forms a detailed chronology of the jeweler’s role in the evolution of American design, as well as Mr. Tiffany’s reputation for luxury and the most beautiful diamonds on earth. Earlier editions of Blue Book include French and Spanish Crown Jewels remounted in Tiffany settings, marking the first appearance of important diamonds in the U.S., and an astonishing array of jewels that won gold medals at the great world’s fairs of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
These were followed by later editions of Blue Book with jewellery inspired by the stained glass masterworks of Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848–1933), son of the company’s founder and a world leader of the Art Nouveau movement; designs from the 1920s platinum age of diamonds, Cocktail-Style suites from the 1940s and 1950s; and jewels that epitomize Hollywood glamour.
Among these were Jean Schlumberger’s Ribbon Rosette necklace (Blue Book 2009-2010) that was mounted with the 128.54-carat Tiffany Diamond to promote the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Schlumberger’s necklace was also worn by Gloria Vanderbilt in an iconic Richard Avedon photograph in Harper’s Bazaar. In addition, his Fleur de Mer clip (Blue Book 2009-2010) was originally created for Elizabeth Taylor. Other red-carpet jewels include the Tiffany Radiance necklace with rare yellow diamonds (Blue Book 2010–2011) worn by Academy Award® winner Kate Winslet at the 2010 Oscars®; and the lavish diamond necklace from Blue Book 2013 that Anne Hathaway wore when she accepted her Oscar® that same year.
Blue Book 2015 rises to meet this unparalleled legacy of beauty and excellence with a collection inspired by “The Art of the Sea.” Design Director Francesca Amfitheatrof sets Tiffany diamonds in electrifying motion-spinning in whirlpools, cascading in waterfalls and dancing like moonlight on the waves. Her jewels of colourful gemstones are equally dynamic-blossoming in undersea gardens and swirling like pebbles polished by wind and water.
a&e enjoys NewYork the Tiffany & Co. way
We had the privilege of being part of the Blue Book 2015 launch celebration in NewYork and through our lens we share with you moments from this wonderful and memorable Journey.
Tiffany & Co. Hosts Blue Book Dinner
Tiffany welcomed notable guests from the worlds of art, entertainment, fashion and the media to the Blue Book Dinner, which marked the launch of the 2015 Blue Book Collection, the ultimate expression of couture jewellery that only Tiffany and its storied legacy can offer to the world.
Tiffany CEO Frédéric Cumenal hosted the intimate dinner for approximately 100 guests at ABC Kitchen, with cuisine by three-star Michelin chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Joining Cumenal were Tiffany design director Francesca Amfitheatrof, acclaimed actress and producer Reese Witherspoon and artist Jack Pierson, along with Amber Heard, Olivia Wilde, Victor Cruz, Misty Copeland, Angelica Cheung, Prabal Gurung, Yasmin Le Bon, Jason Wu and Indre Rockefeller.
During cocktails, guests had the opportunity to explore the Blue Book Collection, Amfitheatrof’s first for Tiffany, inspired by the power and beauty of the sea. They selected jewels to wear as renowned photographer Jessica Craig-Martin captured the moment with her unique view of fashion and style that has been featured in Vogue and Vanity Fair. Her individual and group portraits created a moving picture of Blue Book jewels that sparkled. Diamonds flowed along necklines and draped across wrists, and a ring of exceedingly rare blue diamonds swirled in ever-greater circles, like stones shaped by water over millennia.
