Once upon a diamond

I read somewhere that “gems are the flowers of the mineral kingdom and flowers are the gems of the vegetable kingdom”.

Living for beauty, it was so obvious, that as I was reading this, it felt like it was coming from my own heart.

My whole life, I worshipped beauty. All beauty. Spiritual, intellectual, musical, material, human, animal, vegetable, mineral.

At a young age I discovered Greek and roman mythology, fascinated by their cult of beauty and intriguing stories that rang

so true as they revealed various facets of the human character. All that was very useful; it opened my mind to culture as it gave me the ability to immediately recognize the characters of most paintings and sculptures from the renaissance on, as well as Greek statues and their later reproductions such as the ones in the park of Versailles where I lived with my family.

More than useful, it was an unending source of that rarest of pleasures, the aesthetic emotion you feel when a masterpiece stirs the soul and frees you from the stream of compulsive thinking by gently taking you back to your true home, the eternal present, basking in stillness and beauty.

I felt the same thing from a young age with the intense fascination I had with stones, gems, and jewellery. I was mesmerized by my mother’s and grandmother’s jewels, especially the emeralds. When my mother would get ready to go out, I would inspect them from every angle, fascinated by every gem, every pearl, even the colour of the metal and its patina.

When we stayed with my grandparents in the summer in Tuscany, there were endless visits from relatives. I remember vividly as they appeared for dinner like celestial visitations wearing every gem imaginable. These aunts, one more beautiful than the other, always let me look at their jewels and told me their history. Later, during the year, I would see them in various magazines, which was always such fun as I would sometimes recognize their jewellery and admire their fabulous tiaras.

If I saw a jewellery store, I had to go in. Place Vendome in Paris, the land of magic for me, was a source of endless joy as I stopped in front of every shop, staring at every single jewel on display.

The most memorable experience of all was the Meli Bank in Tehran. My mother took me there to see the legendary crown jewels, many from Mughal times. Room after room full of them. There were mountains of diamonds and loose stones, swords, saddles, vases, and boxes all made of gems. Here was the most fabulous globe on earth, made of 75 pounds of gold and 51,366 precious gems, next to it was the 17th century Shah Jahan peacock throne set with 26,733 precious stones, the empress’s coronation robe, also entirely covered in gems … The cave of Ali Baba! I was so obsessed that I had to go back three days later!

In 1984 I joined Sotheby’s jewellery department in New York and studied gemmology. I appraised jewellery for 20 years, seeing fantastic things all year long.

Later, I discovered design when I helped a friend remount his cufflinks. It gave me an idea that led to a first collection and a few more as well as many one-of-a-kind pieces illustrated here in this book.

To those who listen even stones speak…so I explored every culture in history, as well as unusual materials and turned them into my own style of jewellery, my gift of beauty to those who wear them.

Cultural appropriation? Absolutely! I went back to ancient Greece and designed things based on sacred geometry and from there, on to explore the Middle Ages, India, China, Africa, Russia, the art deco period…everything…

Culture is humanity’s patrimony, as the great artists of the renaissance taught us.

All this slowly crystalized into a book:

ONCE UPON A DIAMOND, published by RIZZOLI and available on AMAZON.

The exhibit showcases numerous family photos and remarkable royal jewellery, including the tiara of my great-great grandmother Grand Duchess Vladimir, which is now in the possession of the queen of England. The story will tell you about her unbelievable escape from Russia in the middle of the revolution and how someone miraculously managed to smuggle her jewelry out of St. Petersburg.

Never before seen Romanov photos will be discovered by you… you will discover the glorious jewels of the queens of Italy… you will read riveting stories such as how my great grandmother Queen Elizabeth of Belgium saved Albert Einstein from Nazi persecution! and many more…

This volume richly illustrates the stories of my paternal grandparents, Prince Regent Paul and Princess Olga of Yugoslavia, among other royals.

The exquisite photography and family albums of Grand Duchess Elena of Russia (later Princess of Greece and my great-grandmother) present remarkable never-before-seen images of pre-revolutionary life of the Russian imperial family, their court, and their many European royal family members and friends. The inventory notebook of the jewels belonging to Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna records each jewel in elegant penmanship, accompanied by a detailed watercolour illustration.

This luxurious tome also includes exclusive and previously unpublished designs of mine that channel my family’s historical connoisseurship into timeless and elegant contemporary jewels.

Brimming with 150 illustrations and photographs – both archival and contemporary – ONCE UPON A DIAMOND is a pure catnip for anyone whose interest encompasses the history of high jewelry as well as the fascinating lineage of European royalty.