Press Centre
Launch of GEM VISIONS 2009
THE YEAR TO CELEBRATE THE ART OF THE JEWEL
GEM VISIONS 2009 embraces and celebrates the art of the jewel. The influence of fine art on the world of jewellery generates a new and dynamic element of fantasy and freedom, revelling in painterly colour and strengthening the age-old associations of the gemstone with visions, reflections and infinite depths of light.
Formerly marketed under the trade name Signity, and now wholly owned and supported by Swarovski, ENLIGHTENED™ – Swarovski Elements, the world-leading product brand for precision-cut genuine gemstones and created stones, presents GEM VISIONS 2009, the latest edition of its highly-acclaimed and much anticipated trend and design book, specifically and expertly researched and created for the fine jewellery market. As always, the book is accompanied by a brilliant new collection of highly innovative, trend-oriented gem products, in unexpected and inspirational cuts and colours.
Each year, GEM VISIONS, one of the industry’s most valued design and marketing tools, researches, identifies and analyses four major design directions and social and cultural megatrends most likely to influence fine jewellery. And each year, through GEM VISIONS, ENLIGHTENED™ – Swarovski Elements aims at stimulating creativity in design, at the same time drawing on the company’s mastery of precision-cutting and dedication to innovation, to develop a new palette of barrier-breaking, fashion-focused gemstone products. Once again researched and written by a team of highly respected trend and jewellery experts, with an international perspective, design expertise and historical grounding, this year’s design-driven, seriously glamorous GEM VISIONS book sets gemstones within the context of today’s most vital fashion and lifestyle trends, showing the gemstone as an essential ingredient of style. Over the past six years, since the inception of this unique trend-forecasting service, the GEM VISIONS books have built an unrivalled archive of evolving design inspirations and source references. Now, for 2009, more sophisticated, glossy and in-depth than ever before, GEM VISIONS introduces and illuminates the year’s most pervasive design directions, illustrating them with varied reference material as well as with sketches and photographs of jewels commissioned by ENLIGHTENED™ – Swarovski Elements from a hand-picked group of key designers around the world, interpreting the new trends using the newest ENLIGHTENED™ – Swarovski Elements products.
GEM VISIONS 2009
For 2009, GEM VISIONS explores the growing influence of the thriving contemporary art world on fine jewellery, lifting the jewel onto a new level as a true art form. The full creative process behind a jewel comes to the fore, from the origins and attributes of gemstones, through the concept and cultural depths of design, to highly skilled craftsmanship and new technology. The gemstone, providing colour and light, is chosen for its artistic contribution, an integral part of the total concept. Emotion underlines all GEM VISIONS directions for 2009. In the new mood of emotional luxury, every jewel has a soul.
The four design directions identified for 2009 are: GEMetic, D.Fraction, Precious Me, HyperNature. Each megatrend is composed of three key concepts.
GEMETIC
An evolution of sensual minimalism and the all-consuming organic influence, this trend, with an evocative lightness and transparency, magnifies the genesis of life, its powerful purity of form and colour shaped by a fascination with bio-technologies and by a move towards a more radical modernism. Its key looks are Invisible Depth, revealing a new light and airy micro-world, alive with clusters and colonies of gems and ornamentation, Elemental Purity, which takes the play of light on water as its main inspiration, and Sublime Biology, exploring the strong scientific mood running through Gemetic, translating cells and organisms into mosaics and layers of translucencies and captivating textures. Colours revolve around creamy neutrals, with a clinical overtone and an emphasis on fresh lightness and purity.
D.FRACTION Following the strong architectural element in jewellery design, drawing inspiration from our contemporary urban environment, this trend looks at the effects of light diffraction, prismatic, radiant and dynamic. Key concepts are Light Explosion, maximising the light and energy of the gemstone to create kaleidoscopic, geometric compositions of shimmering rainbows, Massive Attack, monumental, armour-like jewels in which shining gold is the hero, and Neo-Complexity, with slices of light transformed into origami-like masterpieces. The rainbow spirit of the trend is touched by shadows, an urban harmony of dark classics punctuated by fresh pastels and whites.
PRECIOUS ME
Intensely personal, rich in cultural heritage and layered with amuletic traditions and fragments of the past, this trend introduces a new romantic mood of mystical enchantment and fabled storytelling, sometimes dark and demonic. The three concepts are Woven Gems, fusing fabric and gems through masterful craftsmanship, Fragments of Time, in which modern chaotic entanglements are spun around pieces of the past, coins, medals, cameos, and Gold Fetish, sentimental amulets with a touch of the surreal, tinged with wit, whimsy and poetry. A sophisticated palette is based on burnished, antique-inspired colours and tone on tone effects.
HYPERNATURE
The universal preoccupation with the natural world and the survival of the planet breeds a new hyper-awareness of nature, its miracles, mysteries and strange, otherworldly beauty. This trend is pro-active and powerful, creating sculptural and stylised jewels destined to become iconic messengers of their age. The key looks are Mega Blooms, examining the structure of the flower, showing a dangerous, predatory side of nature, Living Sculptures, vegetal and floral patterns, distilled to their purest, most linear essence, for a fresh, meaningful minimalism, and Strange Abyss, which dives deep into the ocean to uncover a strange new landscape of submarine life forms, in a spirit of supernatural, technological science fiction. Colours are contemporary and energetic, vibrant and seductively confident, highlighted by a range of chalky whites.
ENLIGHTENED™ – Swarovski Elements product launches
As always, this year’s design-driven, style-rich GEM VISIONS 2009 book introduces the season’s scintillating selection of inspirational new gem products, and points to the most appropriate genuine gemstones and created stones to help you express each of the four trends. New for 2009, in genuine gemstones, is the intriguing Sqround cut, blending and softening two classic geometric forms, available in cool, pure tones of white topaz, topaz ice blue, paraiba, rainforest green, and pink, while the exotic shape of the new Fan cut, with its unfolding facets, is shown to perfection in deep, plum coloured grape rhodolite and glossy black spinel. New amongst created stones is the fantasy form of the hexagonal Parachute cut, in warm, light shades of brilliant cubic zirconia white, light yellow, golden yellow and light peridot, the smooth Dome cut in brown and champagne, as well as in black and white cubic zirconia, the Edged cut in white cubic zirconia and, spot on trend, the synthetic opal round cabochon, ethereal with its shifting colours and translucencies, in white or water opal. Finally, illustrating the artistry and innovation for which ENLIGHTENED™ – Swarovski Elements is renowned, the newest inventive and enticing component is Gembraced. Opening the way forward for new possibilities and concepts that would otherwise be considered too time-consuming and too expensive to produce, Gembraced is a new sculptural, bead-like element that embraces two round bezel-set stones, placed at either end of the smooth, curved shape. Bringing charm and playful tactility to jewellery, Gembraced is available in 925-sterling silver, and 18 carat yellow or white gold, and can be varied with a wide choice of round stone combinations and colours, both genuine and created, in three sizes (1.5mm, 2mm, 3mm). The new ready-made gem element is a manufacturer’s dream.
While ENLIGHTENED™ – Swarovski Elements fires your imagination, embracing your passion for design, GEM VISIONS 2009 builds on its past success and looks to the future, stimulating creativity, ideas and visions in the fast-growing world of fine jewellery. Join GEM VISIONS 2009, the ultimate jewellery guide, in celebrating the art of the jewel.
