Valentine’s Day Gift Guide: The Best Gold Jewelry

Gold jewelry for Valentine’s Day. Groundbreaking, right?

Gold is a favorite Valentine’s Day jewelry choice for a good reason, and that solar gleam is guaranteed to give you the Midas touch whatever the karat count. But a safe choice need not be unimaginative if you choose a designer who is truly innovating, experimenting or excelling at showcasing the beauty of the metal itself.

From fine enameling and hand finishing, to reviving the 18th century art of en tremblant and gold weaving, these contemporary designers are going for gold this Valentine’s Day.

Cece Jewellery: Valentine’s Day Heart ring

Hand-crafted in her London workshop, this former art historian’s under-the-radar signet rings and pendants are rooted in tattoo art, specifically, the tattoos of her deep-sea diver father and the stories they carry. Inspired by hand-painted Celtic warrior armor, Byzantine enamel headpieces and Renaissance jewelry, she pairs painstaking enameling with star-set diamonds and pearls, to channel a retro tattoo feel on 18 karat recycled gold. Her delicate blush Valentine’s Day heart makes for exquisite wearable art on the tiniest of scales.

Available at cecejewelry.com

Woven from delicate gold wire across a sturdy, granulated frame, the Sybil Shield earrings are “a study of the tension between strength and fragility; weight and weightlessness,” according to their designer, Lola Oladunjoye. An exploration of the purity and beauty of the metal, the Sybil Shield earrings also honor female intellect and independence and are named after the revered mythological Greek prophetesses who delivered their prophecies in riddles. Just like the unapologetic women they celebrate, these earrings stand alone, as a carefully considered statement, inhabiting the full majesty of gold without the need for gemstones.

Available on dittoafrica.com

Nada Ghazal: My Muse Glory embossed ring

Beirut designer Nada Ghazal launched the My Muse collection at Expo 2020 Dubai, and with her trademark satin gold finish, feminine curves and gentle volume, it carries all the hallmarks of her well-defined look. Ghazal’s latest pieces are a love letter to her hometown, and she has looked to traditional techniques like hand enameling and embossing to capture the essence of her beloved city, describing its hidden palaces and the vibrant flowers growing in cracked walls through her jewelry. Gold is at the heart of what she does and just like that resilient city itself, her pieces combine color with refinement, and delicacy with strength.

Available at nadaghazal.com. You can also find Nada’s work at the Objet d’Emotion pop-up gallery in Marylebone, London until the end of February.

Sia Taylor: Tiny Sunrise Earrings 

Sia Taylor has made gold her own, shaping a delicate artistic identity around enhancing and elevating the metal one tiny disk at a time. She uses a palette of different gold alloys to create depth and color gradations, as she explores themes of nature from her workshop deep in the English countryside. Inspired by the sounds of her daily walks during lockdown, the recent Songbird collection captures the warbling of birds in cascades of gold petals and lozenges, while these earrings honor the sunrise, through hand-crafted half moons which shimmer and dance like sunlight through branches.

Available on siataylor.com

White Space: Aurora necklace

Khadijah Fulton’s sleek and simple ribbon necklace for her label White Space showcases the style a flat herringbone chain can bring, draping elegantly over the collarbones and warming the skin. Hand-made in the US from recycled 14 karat gold, the Aurora Ribbon is one of several layering chains in the White Space collection, including the heavier Sleek chain with its unique elongated links. Fulton is known for her elegant and wearable jewels, designed for and inspired by her fellow women, those “gorgeously complex individuals” to whom she hopes to offer a renewed sense of self-value through jewelry which lends a sense of confidence and polish to the wearer.

Available on whitespacejewelry.com

Jessica de Lotz: Wax seal charm bracelet

Jessica de Lotz’ collections of found objects provide fertile pasture for her imagination, as she delves into the history and symbolism that drive her jewelry storytelling. From celebrating love to honoring loss, her jewels are conceived to be customized by the wearer, self-designed as heirlooms to be passed on. Molten gold lends itself beautifully to the wax seals that can be stamped with initials or numbers, hand-engraved or set with a birthstone, before being hung on a chunky belcher chain, ready to tell a tale in 9 karat gold.

Available at jessicadelotz.com

Maire Lichtenberg: Heartbeat Orb

Over the past couple of years, Marie Lichtenberg has made a name for herself designing extraordinarily finely crafted love lockets that tap into the need for fine jewelry with meaning. Born of an exploration of what we hand down from one generation to the next, her pieces are rooted in the traditional jewelry of her mother’s Martiniquan culture, designed with finesse in Paris. She’s uncompromising when it comes to quality, carefully sourcing artisans to create some of the most beautifully made jewels around. The Heartbeat Orb is a case in point; a celestial orb with her signature ‘coco’ finish, which opens to reveal a tiny enamel heart on a trembleuse, in a poetic display of fine jewelry engineering. 

Available at marielichtenberg.com

Dorian Webb: Coral Choker

Gold lends itself engagingly to the natural forms of coral, in a supremely tactile choker by Dorian Webb. Winning the Natural Diamond Council’s Emerging Designers Diamond Initiative, which supports BlPOC designers as they enter the diamond industry, has enabled Webb to start using diamonds and here, elegant baguettes contrast with the organic forms of the coral motif. She works in 18 karat recycled gold and responsibly sourced gemstones to create “intentional” jewelry, designed to “highlight a woman’s innate beauty and encourage thought-provoking conversations.”

Available at dorianwebb.com