My Jewel of the Month posts highlight my newest — or sometimes my newsiest — jewelry designs. Here are 2016’s hot jewels from both my luxe signature line and my social-media-inspired WENDYB by Wendy Brandes diffusion line. Click the photos to read the original posts.
Redesigning old jewelry is one of my specialties. January’s Jewel of the Month was an engagement-ring redesign for gorgeous client Helen. She sent me her old ring …
Helen’s ring, before.
… and I sent back the new ring.
Helen’s ring, after.
I did a 14-day Valentine’s Day countdown for February, so I’ll just highlight one of those pieces now. It’s the award-winning engagement-ring redesign I did for my mother.
Click to see the hidden message inside.
My arrowhead thread earrings in platinum and gold were the Jewels of the Month for March. I’ve been meaning to do more thread earrings ever since!
Click to see how these look on.
If you have recently pierced ears, I recommend April’s Jewel of the Month: my Diamond Micro Studs for Tender Ears. The studs are made of a hypoallergenic platinum/iridium alloy. No copper or nickel to be found! The diamonds are four points per stud, with F color and VS clarity.
Tiny studs are good for tender ears.
In May, I added to my arrowhead collection by introducing dangle rings in gold and platinum. These make good stacking rings, either together or mixed in with my barbed wire stacking rings.
In platinum, with 17 little diamonds.
Classic designs were on my mind in June, so I featured my Matilda sword necklace and earrings.
The 18K white gold sword pulls out of the 18K yellow gold scabbard!
Proving that good designs have staying power, the Matilda necklace ended up prominently worn by gorgeous supermodel Bella Hadid in Paper magazine this month!
The Matilda sword necklace and Bella’s underboob — perfect together. Styled by Farren FUCCI. Click for the whole Paper feature.
I went back to new styles in July with the first ring I designed for my friend Monica Stephenson’s ANZA Gems project. Ruby is July’s birthstone, so this was the perfect time to share this ruby dangle ring.
Ruby from Tanzania is set in recycled 18K rose gold and highlighted with a conflict-free diamond.
As I’ve explained before, Monica started ANZA Gems to offer a completely transparent journey from the gem mine to the customer. She personally sources ethically mined, colored-gemstone rough from Tanzania and Kenya; brings the uncut stones back to the U.S. to be faceted by gem cutters here; and then has them incorporated into fine jewelry by designers with whom she collaborates. At least 10% of the proceeds from every sale goes back to three East African schools that Monica supports. The e-commerce site has just launched, so you can shop here. The proceeds from this ruby ring will provide lunch for the students of the Kitarini primary school in Tanzania for at least a month, so someone go buy this right away!
I unveiled my second design for ANZA Gems in August: a two-finger ring boasting two vividly colored Tanzanian garnets and a pink spinel. The gems look like they’re floating above the fingers.
One of a kind!
This one isn’t on ANZA’s website yet, so if you’d like to inquire about it, contact Monica here.
August was a busy month for me because I also introduced a trio of Punk Platinum earrings: an anarchy symbol, a razor blade, and a safety pin.
For fancy-ass punks.
September’s birthstone is sapphire, and while I tend to prefer fancy color like pink and yellow, I think these blue cabochon studs look luscious!
A luxurious take on the standard birthstone earring.
By October, I was focused on the presidential election. I used my letter studs to spell out VOTE, but the hot seller was my NASTY necklace.
A NASTY necklace for NASTY women.
After the election, I considered moving to another planet, so it was appropriate that November’s Jewel of the Month was an alien emoji stud earring.
Why is this alien so happy?
I ended the year with a selection of designs for the Platinum Guild’s Holiday Gift Guide.
Platinum doesn’t need to be saved for the red carpet. Wear it every day!
People associate platinum with wedding jewelry and Academy Awards loaners from Harry Winston, so I started my Punk Platinum collection to show that this most precious metal can be casual and cool and (relatively) affordable. Prices for my platinum jewelry start at $300 for a single diamond stud.
Stay tuned for lots of new designs in 2017!