The phrase “I’m really excited about this fossilized purple stegosaurus bone” is not something we typically hear when previewing an accessories line. But that’s exactly how sustainable fine-jewelry designer Monique Péan led into the discussion about her Fall 2013 wares. The starting point for her collection, which actually marks the second time she’s worked with 150 million-year-old dino bones, was a recent stint in Guatemala. Ancient pyramids in the jungle inspired the geometric shapes of her multilevel stones. (For instance, one necklace features a Herkimer diamond that was cut with a range of jagged planes and covered in pavéd white or black diamonds.) The trip also led Péan to her newest material—Guatemalan black jade that is literally spit to the surface because of volcanic activity. She fashioned her latest find into sharp diamond-embellished pendulum earrings and textural rings.
This season, Péan continued to work with her signature scrimshawed woolly-mammoth ivory (which, at 150 thousand years old, seems pretty new next to her Jurassic fossils). In fact, she embraced the spirit of the collection by painting her own nails to match the intricate etched patterns on her cream-and-black earrings and rings. However, it was those dinosaur bones (some of which were polished to reveal an intricate cellular structure) juxtaposed with diamonds on necklaces and rings that really stood out. “I want people to collect these pieces and pass them down,” Péan told Style.com. “And hopefully, they’ll be around for hundreds and millions of years, just like the dinosaur bones.”
Monique Péan jewelry is available at Barneys, Jeffrey, and other select retailers.
—Katharine K. Zarrella
Photos: Courtesy of Monique Péan
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