A favourite of Hollywood’s A-list, this Los Angeles-based fine jeweller is creating collections that sparkle like fireworks.
Suzanne Kalan’s designs may be created in colourful, twinkling clusters that scatter across the skin like fireworks in the night sky, but they have an eternal, any-occasion appeal. ‘I’ve always wanted to create pieces with an edge to be worn everyday,’ Kalan explains.
With over three-decades of design experience, the Lebanon-born LA-based jeweller runs her eponymous, 1988-founded brand with her daughter Patile, creating subtly off-kilter pieces, from eternity rings to delicate cuffs, hoop earrings to bar necklaces, which constellate in rainbows of sapphires and pristine diamonds.
Kalan’s signature Fireworks collection features gleaming gemstones set in 18ct yellow, rose and white gold, that collide in asymmetric and seemingly disordered patterns, exploding like precious comets and catherine wheels. “The chaos and charm of gemstones falling randomly into place is how the collection began for me,” she explains. In the collection, Kalan brings the baguette cut into focus – a style more commonly connected with accent or side stones – which has a strikingly graphic and architectural dimension, particularly when stones are constellated in an angular band around the finger or scatter like sparklers from the ear. The Inlay collection, an ebullient evolution of Fireworks, features pieces with baguette-and-princess cut diamonds and coloured stones, which are edged with an elegant gold bezel.
Just as Kalan’s daughter Patile grew up playing with gemstones, so she herself was immersed in jewellery design from a young age. Her father owned a jewellery boutique and her husband is a diamond-setter by trade. For Kalan, a family-run business with design innovation at its focus is of the foremost importance. Her non-traditional, offbeat designs also showcase a custom ‘Vitrine’ setting, which reveals a double-layer of sparkle. Coloured stones in the Firework collection are cut flat on the top and bottom to reveal a sliver of dazzling diamond behind.
Environmentally and ethically minded, Kalan creates all her pieces in-house in California. Her brand’s diamonds are ethically sourced using the Kimberley Process, an organisation united against conflict-derived stones. A favourite of A-list Hollywood stars and musicians, on and off the red carpet, Kalan’s designs have been worn by Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Jennifer Aniston.
For those searching for a striking alternative to traditional fine jewellery design, Kalan’s pieces are unusual, prismatic and striking. Pieces in the Fireworks collection, which includes slim bangles and cuffs or delicate hoops, can be worn as enduring individual designs, or stacked for maximalist impact according to the style of the wearer. A bangle, featuring a sprinkling of baguette cut pink sapphires, can celebrate a September birthstone. An eternity ring, set with diamonds or rainbow sapphires has the finesse of a future heirloom or even an unusual engagement ring. A necklace with a kaleidoscopic or pristine band of stones, brings a contemporary update to a classic chain.
'I want the women who wear my designs to be able to wear them today, tomorrow and 20 years from now,’ says the designer.
Discover the exciting designs from Suzanne Kalan here at Mappin & Webb online, or visit one of our showrooms.
Author Credit: Laura Hawkins is the Fashion Features Editor of Wallpaper*, a position she has held since 2016. She specialises in fashion, jewellery and the intersection between the luxury world and culture.
