Jul 10th 2013, 15:04, by Katharine K. Zarrella
Offering sensual organic jewelry in gemstones and gold, 33-year-old Brazilian-born Fernando Jorge has steadily built a cult following since debuting his eponymous jewelry line in 2010. Following a near decade-long stint of working around Brazil for local ateliers, after studying product design in Sĕo Paulo, Jorge headed to London in 2008, where he enrolled in Central Saint Martins’ master’s program for jewelry design. There, he developed a complementary tangent to his creative process. “My prior work was about curves and fluidity,” he said, “but through London, I wanted to have vibrant, younger, and edgier pieces.”
The Big Smoke’s influence is evident in his lightning-struck Electric Collection (above, bottom right), but Jorge hasn’t abandoned his Brazilian sensibility. Take, for example, his relaxed and languid Fluid capsule (above, left), or the Cheeky Collection (above, top right), in which the designer playfully re-creates the “Brazilian stereotype of a woman’s shape, especially in popular culture.” Bums and busts in fine jewelry—who’d have thought?
Splitting time between London and São Paulo as his business grows, Jorge will soon launch stateside, through Barneys in Manhattan and Beverly Hills, and online at Net-a-Porter. When questioned about the challenges of international expansion, he replied, “The jewelry market is definitely affected by cultural nuances…. I would say Europeans are more attracted to creativity and craftsmanship, Americans value a strong signature, and Brazilians see jewelry as adornment.” That formula reps a trinity that Jorge, knowingly or not, has already tapped—his work is versatile, splashy, and, above all, fresh as that stalk of sugarcane in your caipirinha.
—Nick Remsen
Photos: Courtesy of Fernando Jorge
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