Though Princess Michael of Kent’s choice of a blackamoor brooch for her lapel at a festive dinner with Meghan Markle was deemed a fatal faux pas, jewels with more socially suitable African design influences are winning over consumers. In the fashion market, labels including Isabel Marant and Thomas Sabo have turned to tribal and wildlife motifs to give their jewelry collections an exotic edge, and there is an exciting crop of emerging luxury jewelry designers with African roots — such as Satta Maturi and Vania Leles, whose dream is to “bring the voice of Africa to fine jewelry.” These designers are crafting beautiful pieces inspired by African architecture, history and their own childhoods, and using precious metals and gemstones mined ethically on their home continent to do so.
Image (left to right): Ortaea ortaea.com; Satta Matturi sattamatturi.com; Unspoiled Jewels unspoiledjewels.comArticle from the Rapaport Magazine - February 2018. To subscribe click here.