Discover the latest high jewellery collections from Bvlgari, Cartier, Tiffany & Co., Nayestones and Pomellato, each inspired by iconic architecture. From Art Deco geometry to modern minimalist lines, these new designs showcase structural beauty, symmetry and light.
Text by: Young Lim
In both jewellery and architecture, beauty is never just skin-deep. It lies in the lines, the proportions, and the mastery of construction. From the clean symmetry of Art Deco skyscrapers to the organic curves of modernist masterpieces, architecture has long been a wellspring of inspiration for jewellers, offering a design language that translates seamlessly into precious metals and stones.
For centuries, the two disciplines have mirrored each other. Architects and jewellers alike work within the tension between artistry and engineering, crafting pieces that must be both structurally sound and visually striking. A vault becomes a gemstone setting; a façade transforms into a gold lattice; a skyline is reimagined in diamonds.
The language of form
Architectural principles — symmetry, proportion, and the clever use of negative space — have found enduring expression in fine jewellery. The bold geometric shapes of the Art Deco period, for instance, echo the grandeur of the Chrysler Building and the Eiffel Tower, their stepped silhouettes and linear flourishes reborn as rings, cuffs, and pendants. Bauhaus minimalism, with its emphasis on function and form, inspires jewellery stripped to its purest lines, while Brutalist influences bring an edge through raw textures and monolithic shapes.
Bvlgari’s new Polychroma collection embraces this design language with pieces that could easily be imagined as miniature monuments. The Cosmic Vault necklace, for example, draws from the domes of Rome’s skyline, its 123.35-carat Sri Lankan sugar-loaf sapphire suspended in a rhythmic structure of over 200 elements and 331 sapphires. The composition mirrors the architectural choreography of a grand vaulted ceiling, yet its flexible joints ensure it drapes like silk against the skin.
When structures become adornment
Some creations take direct cues from historic or sacred spaces. Bvlgari’s Celestial Mosaic necklace, inspired by the 18th-century Tree of Life mosaic in Jericho and Mughal palatial motifs, arranges a kaleidoscopic spinel around a harmonious grid of gemstones, giving the effect of an ornamental frieze in miniature.
Bvlgari’s Essence of Yellow ring revives the House’s 1928 Trombino design with its stepped, geometric massing, a tribute to Art Deco architecture, and centres on a rare, 45-carat vivid yellow diamond in an Asscher-emerald cut, bringing architectural proportion to the finger.
Cartier responds with a sculptural finesse. The Grain de Café necklace reimagines its signature motif as a radiating array of diamond-tipped coffee-bean elements fanning from a central axis — like the structural ribs of a dome or rotunda. Its matching bracelet, mounted on a Palm Tree chain with a hidden hinge, plays with contrasting textures, smooth, striated, and cobbled, echoing the layering of stone, glass, and metal on a building’s façade. The Grain de Café ring and a rubellite-accented version of the bracelet bring added dimension, recalling the richly beaded cornices and decorative detailing of historic architecture.
Tiffany & Co. brings solar geometry into the conversation with the latest creations from Jean Schlumberger’s Apollo collection. Inspired by the eternal power of the sun, each piece fuses platinum and 18k yellow gold in a play of sculptural rays curving outward from a luminous centre. The radial symmetry mirrors the sunburst motifs found in grand civic architecture, from Art Deco lobby ceilings to Renaissance domes, while the dynamic flare of the rays suggests movement and vitality — a structural form brought to life.
From Belgium, Nayestones offers a distinctly minimalist counterpoint with the Lumina Ring, an architectural study in light and shadow. Each creation becomes a sumptuous Art Deco–inspired stained-glass panel in miniature, framing the gemstone so that it appears to float within its golden structure. Designed to interact with light, the open framework allows the skin to show through, producing a luminous, almost weightless effect that shifts with every movement, much like how an architect might craft a pavilion to let sun and shadow dance across its surfaces.
Pomellato’s Collezione 1967 brings yet another architectural dimension, rooted in the Maison’s mastery of chains and bold volumes. The Blue Chain Cascade necklace layers internal and external chains around a 22.23-carat Ceylon sapphire, the composition flowing like a suspended, gem-encrusted bridge. The Yellow Diamond Moon suite combines Pomellato’s gourmette and round-link chains into a structural frame for a 12-carat yellow diamond, merging sensual fluidity with architectural strength. The Asimmetrico Tanzanite necklace, with its irregular-cut 55.96-carat centre stone and articulated, diamond-pavé gold plates, reads like a piece of wearable contemporary architecture, asymmetrical yet balanced, its modules engineered with the precision of a complex façade system. And the Iconica Extreme suite, with its graduated, baguette-set links and squared forms softened by rounded edges, embodies the fusion of volume, proportion, and geometric rigour that defines both fine architecture and fine jewellery.
From statement to subtlety
Architectural inspiration is as adaptable as it is timeless. On one end of the spectrum are red-carpet showpieces that command attention with their scale and intricacy, resembling miniature cathedrals or palaces in precious form. Bulgari’s Magnus Emerald necklace, with its massive 241.06-carat Colombian emerald framed by a bold architectural front and classic diamond rivière back, feels like the grand entrance of a historic theatre merging with a serene interior corridor.
On the other, there are understated designs whose structural whispering feels intimate. Bvlgari’s Nuvole Preziose pendant watch, its octagonal case echoing the ceiling of the Basilica Maxentius, adorned with gold “sun rays” as Baroque sculpture in miniature, is both timepiece and architectural tribute.
Engineering elegance
Just as a building’s strength lies in its foundations, an architecturally inspired jewel’s success is in its craftsmanship. Precision setting ensures structural stability, while the balance between weight and comfort allows pieces to be worn effortlessly. For the collector, such designs hold a unique appeal: they are as much a celebration of design history as they are personal adornments.
Whether drawn to the soaring ambition of skyscraper-inspired jewels, the sculptural tactility of Cartier’s rich textures, Tiffany’s solar geometry, Nayestones’ architectural luminosity, or Pomellato’s chain-born structural statements, the allure lies in how these creations capture the essence of architecture, the permanence of stone and steel, translated into the intimate scale of a jewel. In them, we see a reminder that design, at any scale, has the power to move, inspire, and endure.
