Alexandra Mor | |
---|---|
Nationality | Israeli |
Occupation(s) | Jewelry designer and artistic director |
Alexandra Mor is an American jewelry designer and artistic director, who works from headquarters in New York City's Diamond District, where she founded her jewelry brand ALEXANDRA MOR.
Mor was born and raised in Israel´s multicultural Mélange. At a young age her French couturier mother taught her the concept of handcrafted design which suited her affinity for the creative realm. [1]
Mor started to pursue a career as a filmmaker and worked as assistant director and producing manager. [2] In 2004 she found her passion in jewelry during a jewelry bench class [2] in New York City´s Jewelry District. [3]
Mor's pieces are distinguished by details of knife-edged wire and yellow gold interior lining using diamonds and gemstones. [4] Mor launched her brand and first limited-edition collection at the Phillips de Pury auction house in December 2010, [2] and in 2014, launched her first retail jewelry collection at Dorfman Jewelers in Boston. In 2015, Mor debuted a series of pieces created exclusively for the New York City retailer Bergdorf Goodman. [3]
Mor's work has been worn on the red carpet by many, including Oprah, Lupita Nyong'o and Mila Kunis. [5]
In 2016, after spending a decade working in New York City, Mor moved to the island of Bali in Indonesia. [6]
For the 2019 edition of the US Protagonist Event, Mor created a Capsule Collection featuring the tagua seed and emeralds from the Muzo Mines in Colombia. [7] [8]
Mor designs jewelry by being inspirited by personal relationship to her clients, by history, femininity and strength. [1] She uses diamonds and colored gemstones set in platinum and 18K gold. [3]
After spending a year in Bali, Indonesia, she created a special jewelry line from the seed of Amazonian Taque tree, the botanical alternative to elephant ivory. She was motivated to fabricate a product which looks like elephant ivory to help protect elephants from being robbed of their tusks. [9] The collection features Tagua seeds, black and red Balinese wood, Sumatran pearls and 22 karat yellow gold alongside Mor's signature details of knife-edged wire, gemstones and Diamond melee. [6] [10] In 2017, Mor introduced her collection and concept for using Tagua as a luxury material at Vogue Italia's annual US Protagonist event. [7]
In 2013 Mor received the Fine Jewellery Rising Star Award at Fashion Group International´s in the Fine Jewelry category., [11] [12]
Following the 2017 Protagonist collaboration, Vogue Italia named Mor as creative director of the annual event. [13] [14]
In 2018 she was named Innovator of the Year by Town & Country Magazine. [15]
A gemstone is a piece of mineral crystal which, when cut or polished, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. Certain rocks and occasionally organic materials that are not minerals may also be used for jewelry and are therefore often considered to be gemstones as well. Most gemstones are hard, but some softer minerals such as brazilianite may be used in jewelry because of their color or luster or other physical properties that have aesthetic value. However, generally speaking, soft minerals are not typically used as gemstones by virtue of their brittleness and lack of durability.
Jewellery consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a western perspective, the term is restricted to durable ornaments, excluding flowers for example. For many centuries metal such as gold often combined with gemstones, has been the normal material for jewellery, but other materials such as glass, shells and other plant materials may be used.
A tiara is a jeweled head ornament. Its origins date back to ancient Iran, which was then adapted by Greco-Romans. In the late 18th century, the tiara came into fashion in Europe as a prestigious piece of jewelry to be worn by women at formal occasions. The basic shape of the modern tiara is a (semi-)circle, usually made of silver, gold or platinum and richly decorated with precious stones, pearls or cameos.
Van Cleef & Arpels is a French luxury jewelry company. It was founded in 1896 by the Dutch diamond-cutter Alfred Van Cleef and his father-in-law Salomon Arpels in Paris. Their pieces often feature flowers, animals, and fairies, and have been worn by style icons and royalty such as Grace Kelly, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Diana, Princess of Wales, Ava Gardner, Farah Pahlavi, Eva Perón, Elizabeth Taylor, the Duchess of Windsor, Queen Nazli of Egypt, and Queen Camilla.
Birks Group Inc. is a designer, manufacturer, and retailer of jewellery, timepieces, silverware and gifts, with stores and manufacturing facilities located in Canada and the United States. The Group was created in November 2005 through the merger of Henry Birks and Sons Ltd. (Canada) and Mayors Jewelers Inc..
Queen Elizabeth II owned a historic collection of jewels – some as monarch and others as a private individual. They are separate from the gems and jewels of the Royal Collection, and from the coronation and state regalia that make up the Crown Jewels.
Carolina Bucci is an Italian fine jewelry designer. Born in Florence, Italy, she lives between London and New York City and is the first female to lead her family's jewelry company.
Suzanne Belperron (1900–1983), born in Saint-Claude, France, was an influential 20th-century jewellery designer based in Paris. She worked for the Boivin and Herz jewellery houses before the outbreak of World War II. Subsequently, she took over the Herz company, renaming it Herz-Belperron. Belperron had many important clients, including royalty, arts and show business on both sides of the Atlantic.
Susan Foster is an American jewelry designer and philanthropist.
Cindy Chao is a Taiwanese jewellery designer. She founded her company, Cindy Chao The Art Jewel, in 2004. She is known for her Black Label Masterpiece Collection and Annual Butterfly.
Selim Mouzannar is a French-Lebanese jeweler and civic activist. He is the founder and CEO of Selim Mouzannar, his eponymous jewellery house and artisanal manufacturing corporation based in Beirut, Lebanon.
Vladyslav Yavorskyy is a gemstone dealer and jeweler based in Bali, Indonesia, United States. He is best known as one of the world's largest dealers and authorities on spinel. He is also the author of at least six gemstone-related books, one of which was named as one of the Best Books for Gem Lovers by JCK magazine in 2016.
Shaun Leane is a British jewellery designer best known for his sculptural pieces created for Alexander McQueen. His eponymous jewellery brand is a four-time winner of the UK Jewellery Designer of the Year award.
Gemological Science International, or GSI, is an independent gemological organization that is one of the largest gemological entities in the world, with offices in four continents.
Narcisa Pheres is an entrepreneur and creative director and founder of PHERES and Narcisa Pheres Fine Jewelry, Italian luxury brand.
Oscar Heyman & Brothers is an American fine jewellery design and manufacturing firm. The company is known for its expertise in manufacturing and for its use of colored gemstones. The company is known in the jewelry industry as ′The Jewelers’ Jeweler,′ which is the name of the book on the company researched, written, and published by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Ana Khouri is a New York-based jewellery designer.
Diana, Princess of Wales, owned a collection of jewels both as a member of the British royal family and as a private individual. These were separate from the coronation and state regalia of the crown jewels. Most of her jewels were either presents from foreign royalty, on loan from Queen Elizabeth II, wedding presents, purchased by Diana herself, or heirlooms belonging to the Spencer family.
Anabela Chan is a London-based jewelry designer. Born in Hong Kong into 3 generations of film directors and cinematographers, Anabela grew up in London and Paris. She first graduated from UCL with a BSc in Architecture. She worked with Architect Lord Richard Rogers before designing prints and embroidery for Alexander McQueen and All Saints. She then returned to school and received her Master of Arts in Jewellery Design from the Royal College of Art. During her honeymoon in Sri Lanka she visited a mine and was shocked to see the working conditions. After that experience, she started to use laboratory grown synthesized and simulated gemstones. Anabela uses a range of sustainable materials such as recycled aluminium from soda cans in her jewellery.
Feng J or Feng Ji is a Paris-based Chinese jewelry designer and artist. She established her own eponymous jewelry brand in Paris and set up showrooms in Place Vendôme and Shanghai. In December 2015, she founded Fengji Jewelry (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. in Shanghai, serving as its executive director and general manager. The company has a registered capital of only RMB 1 million.