There was so much jewellery worth covering at New York City Jewelry Week 2023, it’s hard to know where to start.
But one of the pieces from the Strong & Precious Art Foundation seems like a good place to start.
Founded in April 2022, just months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Strong & Precious is the brainchild of Ukrainian-born Olga Oleksenko.
Oleksenko is a jewelry connoisseur who was the director of the Van Cleef & Arpels boutique in Kyiv for a decade, and later became the brand’s ambassador in Ukraine.
Strong & Precious is Oleksenko’s way of bringing Ukrainian jewellery designers and their talents to the fore at a time of conflict and difficulty for the country.
During Jewelry Week, Strong & Precious showcased pieces from five designers at Mriya, a Ukrainian art gallery in New York’s TriBeCa neighbourhood.
The one-of-a-kind creations tell stories of blackouts, freedom, hope, the country’s heritage and its natural resources.
Among the pieces was designer Inesa Kovalova’s incredible ‘Links’ brooch.
Crafted from titanium and 18-carat gold, the centrepiece of the brooch is a striking 38.53-carat heliodor from the Volodarsk-Volynskii mine in Ukraine, which is known for producing top-quality heliodor as well as fine specimens of another beryl, aquamarine.
Resembling a deconstructed paper clip, Kovalova found inspiration for the piece in the industrial landscapes of the Donbass region, a war-torn area of eastern Ukraine.
It symbolises the unbreakable bond between eastern and western Ukraine, and between the country’s cities – expressed through the smooth, grey titanium – and its natural beauty, brought to life by this sunny Heliodor.
Proceeds from the 21 pieces will benefit the Mary Tyler Moore Vision Initiative, a non-profit organisation dedicated to preserving and restoring vision in people with diabetes.
Moore was first diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1969 at the age of 30. She went on to become an advocate for diabetes research and served as international chairman of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
The Fine Jewels sale raised a total of $7.9 million, with 81 percent of lots sold.
Its New York jewellery auctions in 2023 have totalled $184.7 million in sales, which is the highest of any auction house this year, Sotheby’s said.
The top lot was a 2.66-carat fancy intense yellow-green diamond that sold for $254,000, more than six times its pre-sale high estimate of $30,000 to $40,000.
Lot #2 was an 8.02 carat emerald-cut diamond and platinum ring that sold for $215,900, above its estimate of $150,000 to $200,000.
The third top lot of the sale was a Bulgari diamond necklace that sold for $190,500, above its estimate of $80,000 to $120,000.
