Sea of Surprise in NYC

Tiffany & Co. has returned to the place all of it started, debuting the following chapter of excessive jewellery with Blue Ebook 2025: Sea of Surprise in New York Metropolis with a number of days of occasions that crescendo with a gala on the Metropolitan Museum of Artwork.

Created by chief creative director of jewellery and excessive jewellery Nathalie Verdeille, Sea of Surprise is a direct hyperlink to the archive of Jean Schlumberger — Tiffany’s much-loved and influential creator identified for his fantastical designs. Verdeille reinterpreted his marine life masterpieces within the newest assortment, embarking on a brand new journey beneath the ocean with creations punctuated with technical feats, one-of-a-kind gem stones and a contact of dreamy surrealism.

“Every part began in Manhattan for us,” defined president and chief government officer Anthony Ledru throughout an unique preview of the gathering.

Blue Ebook collections stretch again to Tiffany’s starting on the finish of the 18th century and are firmly planted in the home’s heritage. For many years the model confirmed in Manhattan, however over the previous few years, it has taken the gathering on the highway to Shanghai, Miami and Los Angeles.

“To do Blue Ebook once more in New York, it goes again to custom,” Ledru stated, pointing to Tiffany & Co.’s candy spot — according to the jewellery homes of Europe — of the model’s deep patrimony, however with a uniquely American standpoint. And in fashionable phrases, New York is the model’s number-one marketplace for excessive jewellery in quantity and variety of purchasers, Ledru reported. 

Final yr when bringing Blue Ebook to Los Angeles, Ladru famous to WWD that prime jewellery was “recession proof.” A lot has modified for the worldwide economic system since then with the uncertainty of the Trump administration and its stop-and-go tariffs. Final week LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton’s chief monetary officer Cécile Cabanis reported that gross sales have been flat on the watches and jewellery unit of the group, which incorporates Tiffany & Co.

“I feel, after all, it’s an unsure world proper now,” Ladru stated, including, nevertheless, that Tiffany has seen development within the first quarter. The CEO defined the pool of excessive jewellery purchasers is small, “perhaps 10,000 lively purchasers” worldwide for all excessive jewellery manufacturers. However demand exceeds availability.

“You’re on the earth of shortage and distinctive,” he stated, elaborating that the model’s prime purchasers wish to know what’s coming as quickly as potential to safe one of the best items. “It’s a unique world. That’s why I imagine it’s resilient,” he stated.

A primary instance: within the lead as much as the Sea of Surprise debut: a choose group of essential purchasers got a preview so they might reserve items from the gathering forward of its launch. And several other did.

Over the previous few years, the excessive jewellery class has come out of the discreet shadows with archive items creating content material booms on purple carpets. At this time the class is extraordinarily aggressive, with manufacturers not solely displaying excessive jewellery in Paris in the course of the high fashion season but additionally internet hosting far off vacation spot debuts with social media methods.

Beneath Ledru, Tiffany is sharpening the model by linking its legacy to the now. On the 2025 Oscars, greatest actress winner Mikey Madison wore a Tiffany Archive platinum and diamond necklace. Excessive jewellery and archival creations have turn out to be the lodestar for jewellery manufacturers.

“We’re 100% on that,” the CEO stated of the diving power of patrimony at Tiffany & Co., pointing to the not too long ago opened Milan boutique, the place 48 items of the model’s archival jewellery have been showcased. “In fact you can’t purchase archive, however I feel it creates storytelling,” he stated.

It’s right here — referencing the previous, to push ahead — the place Verdeille started with Sea of Surprise. Just a little greater than three years on the artistic helm, she has channeled sea life earlier than with Blue Ebook 2023: Out of the Blue. “It was actually extra contemplation, admission, respect,” she stated of her debut assortment and early days on the model. Now she has a deeper understanding of the home and Schlumberger’s work. “Earlier than you be part of the model you uncover it [Schlumberger’s work]. However while you meet the items for the primary time, it’s very completely different, you win maturity, confidence,” she stated.

Her newest assortment sees her creativity blossom with distinctive concepts and newness. “We’ve got a superb second to take the chance,” she stated. “Now we perceive, we respect and we developed a freedom to actually observe the story to carry all of the energy of the Tiffany model.”

The gathering breaks out in suites with Wave, Ocean Flora, Urchin, Starfish, Seahorse and Sea Turtle. “It was all of the magic of the sunshine, of the wave, the motion, the delicateness,” Verdeille stated of a inexperienced and blue cuprian elbaite tourmaline necklace with delicate articulating fonds from the Wave suite. It embraces the facility of water, laying on the décolletage with a spiral form.

The blue inked gemstone reminded her of the shimmering of sunshine, a “luminescence.” Verdeille proudly took a second to admire the again of the piece, explaining that she was taught to contemplate each side of the sophisticated design to indicate the extent of workmanship.

Throughout the gathering are a mixture of brooches and pins: sea turtles with diamonds; a starfish with rubies, with every level curved as if the ocean is washing over it, a static piece with a trompe-l’oeil nod to motion.

Brooches and pins she says is an overture to a male buyer — Robert Downey Jr. wore an archival Schlumberger brooch to the 2025 Oscars. She likes to play with the stress between female and masculine in her work, however she helps anybody carrying items as they see match. “That’s fashionable,” she stated.

A excessive jewellery assortment can take two to a few years for her to develop from her unique impulses, finding gem stones after which mastering technics. “We will make a miracle, however it’s higher to take the time,” she stated of her course of. There are lots of unimaginable stones, however one final standout is a customized cushion-cut, 16.5 D carat, internally flawless sort IIA diamond in a hoop, a part of the Ocean Flora suite.

All through her work the distinctive nature of the stones is heightened, within the Urchin suite she developed a brand new method for setting the stone with a rope of gold that “dances round” it. The suite makes use of paillonné enameling, one of many oldest methods in positive jewellery, thought modern in the course of the Renaissance. Schlumberger breathed new life into the method within the Nineteen Sixties.

The old-world technique requires talent and excessive precision — somewhat than making use of the enamel instantly onto a steel, they encapsulate skinny curved silver leaves between them “bringing quantity and texture to the piece, but additionally new shades of coloration,” she stated. Like within the sea, the place gentle passes by means of the water to ricochet off the pearly hues of the shells, right here the sunshine penetrates the coloured enamel, mirrored on delicate silver leaves.

Throughout the Seahorse suite is a stone not typically seen in excessive jewellery, blue zircon. Unconventional, it lends a selected and electrical glow with a excessive refraction index that’s in contrast to some other coloured gemstone. She selected it as a result of its crisp brilliance contrasts towards the carved moonstones on a necklace. “You possibly can see the transparencies, it was to remind me of the shell,” she stated.

The Landmark, the Fifth Avenue epicenter of Tiffany & Co., has a multilevel buildout showcasing the brand new assortment with archival items for personal purchasers and media to get pleasure from. After its New York debut, the gathering will journey to Hong Kong, the place the following chapter can be revealed with Wave 2, then Paris and Tokyo in July. The gathering goes on to Bangkok in August and lands in Milan in September for the launch of Wave 3.

Again in Manhattan, Friday evening’s Tiffany & Co. gala within the Metropolitan Museum of Artwork’s American Wing to fete the brand new assortment will embrace a variety of home ambassadors, purchasers and company, with fashions carrying the items all through the night. “The Met can be very contextual,” the CEO stated. “It’s utterly linked to Tiffany. We’ve got mutual ardour for the town.”

Ledru went on to say that Tiffany “could be very clear about the place we wish to go. It’s all about heritage. We regarded on the previous. We did that with Alexandre [Arnault, former vice president of product and communications] for the final three to 4 years. It takes time to align the engines. There was 20 to 30 years that have been phenomenal for Tiffany. The Nineteen Sixties to Nineteen Eighties. And the rationale why is the design was extraordinary.

“Every part that we’re doing at the moment is round that,” he stated.