Brand: Marie Lichtenberg
Founder: Marie Lichtenberg
Latest Launch: With a growing number of young consumers embracing dupes of anything luxurious and fabulous, designers like Marie Lichtenberg decided to tackle the problem head on — and in a clever and resourceful way. Her method to fight fakes was to seek inspiration from the copious counterfeit lockets of her best-seller design. Marie launched a new playful line, titled RAIZ’IN. “We have been victims of widespread counterfeiting since the very beginning, and have been seeking an intelligent solution that goes beyond the courtroom,” says Marie. The pieces mirror the signature locket design using food-grade glitter resin. “Our intention was to create something non-toxic; so, we focused on developing a health-conscious material,” she adds.
The new attainable collection, sold on her website, is priced at a wallet-friendly USD $240. Little wonder then that the first drop consisting of 2000 pieces sold out within 48 hours. The idea, explains Marie, is to ensure that those who admire the lockets will be able to wear a genuine design.
Design: The RAIZ’IN lockets, made in France and Bulgary, uphold her “design standards, made primarily by hand” employing the same meticulous techniques that her fine jewellery brand has always sustained. Designed to be worn layered, the four-leaf clover food resin locket is encased in gold plated loops and is paired with a reinterpreted Mauli cord featuring polyester and hand-strung white resin beads. RAIZ’IN is available in four glittering colours, including green, purple, pink and gold.
A portion of the profits will be donated to the Rafael Institute, the leading European Centre for Integrative Medicine, to support patients and their caregivers during and after cancer treatment, she informs. The second drop includes 1,000 pieces. Here’s hoping Marie will replenish the RAIZ’INs as and when they get sold out.
Brand: Annette Welander
Founder: Annette Welander
Latest Launch: Swedish designer Annette Welander celebrates architecture through her latest collection – Lemniscate. The collection, made in Stockholm, includes rings, earrings and bracelets crafted in conflict-free 18k gold and Top Wesselton VVS diamonds (E-F colour).
Lemniscate, also known as a symbol of infinity, is a form that can be drawn without lifting the pen from the paper. “It has no beginning or end.” The series has its origins in the architectural endeavour of making objects into everlasting monuments, collecting the fabrics of space and time, adds Annette. “By challenging the idea of where something begins and ends, to erase the notion of limits and borders, we can start to sculpting with a freedom of expression and design.”
Design: Each sinuous piece, according to the brand’s signature, has a hidden diamond and employs a castle setting that the designer has come to rely on. The castle setting is a technique that uses stones that have nearly the same diameter as the material they are set into. “It allows the light to flood either side of the diamonds, creating a sparkling appearance,” she adds.
The question of form versus function provides an interesting standpoint within the architectural discipline, observes the designer. Lemniscate, she points out, has been carefully designed to be balanced in terms of ergonomics, variety and quality. With the variation of its form, the design offers unique perspectives from different angles. “Compiled from different fields of professions, from architects to designers and poets… Lemniscate offers no compromise between the two – it constitutes a balance. A balance of time, form and function,” she explains. The rings can be made in white gold, Swedish red gold, yellow gold, rose gold as well as with or without diamonds.
