The wonder of Lydia Courteille...

Super high-end Parisian uber-jeweller Lydia Courteille is a serious player in the one of a kind, antique stone, jewellery-as-art niche. When she describes her work as 'bijoux extraodinaires', she's not exaggerating. Her website is a virtual cabinet of curiousities...exploring her fascination with the dark and gothic, the extent of her work is vast - covering floral and natural motifs, skulls, cameos and crowns...all evoking feelings of a dark fairytale land.


The craftsmanship on each piece is possibly the best we've ever seen this century - immaculate and painfully precise pavé work, and the beautifully cut stones incorporating the blackened gold she often works with as if they had never existed without each other. Dramatic stuff, and will undoubtedly blow your mind if intricate and highly skilled work impresses you.


Our favourites include these mesmerising sphere rings (above top and below) - a little trickery under the crystal reveals the image of a skull. Amazing.


In a similar vein to one of our other favourites, Solange Azagury Partridge, Lydia Courteille has commissioned fantastic artwork to introduce each themed collection on her website - the mixed-media artist Natalie Shau's work is a perfect match to Courteille's unnerving and exciting world.



A few pieces are available at Browns in London, but the best stuff is at the boutique in Paris:

231, rue Saint Honoré
75001 PARIS
+ 33 1 42 61 11 71

The stunning website is also without doubt worth a visit: www.lydiacourteille.com

All images copyright Lydia Courteille 2009