Photos: Simon Lau
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Paloma Sanchez’s love of precious gemstones and diamonds has
made her one of the top thirty jewelry designers in the world today. Featured
at Vancouver Fashion Week Fall Winter 2015 collections, she displayed a luxury
collection that truly lives up to her reputation of fine European craftsmanship
within the art of jewelry making.
As a GIA Gemologist and jewelry designer, she scours the
world for rare gems to create her one of a kind necklace, earrings and
bracelets. Exploring underground mines in remote corners of the world from
Vietnam, Myanmar, Morocco, China to Madagascar.
Breathtaking is the only way I can describe her jewelry
collection, as she has the ability to meld gems in their rough form into her
jewelry designs. But her artistry of polishing gems, which brings out their
fierce inner light and color is truly brilliant.
What is remarkable is that her jewelry designs bring both
the elegance of old world craftsmanship with the exotic of distant lands.
Each jewelry piece has a story to tell, usually from a far mysterious part of
the world.
Since the age of nineteen, diamonds and precious gemstones
have always fascinated Paloma Sanchez. It started with her first visit to a
diamond mine, deep in the heart of the Amazon River basin escorted by a
Venezuelan army general.
“I was fascinated by the miners themselves, some with no
teeth and scars,” said Paloma Sanchez.
Originally from Madrid, Paloma Sanchez had been working in
China for a Swiss luxury watch brand. After twenty-five years, and with her love of
gems, she decided to open her first boutique in San Litun, Beijing's business
district in 2009.
At first, business was slow and she soon realized that she
needed to educate her clientele, so she began offering an exclusive gemology
course only open to the foreign diplomatic community, mainly Ambassador’s
wives. Each class was limited to seven students which ran half days, for four
day over four weeks. She allowed her students to bring in their jewelry, and many of the women assessed for the first time what their
husbands had actually gifted them. From there she was able to build a clientele had a love of gems and
truly appreciated her craftsmanship.
Creating only twenty jewelry sets each month, her Beijing
gallery is now listed in Louis Vuitton’s exclusive city guide on the path of
voyagers.
Today, she has a second gallery located on the Champs-Elysees in Paris.
“It delights me to see women of individual character wear my
unique creations. My personal view is that jewelry should be as precious and as one-of-a-kind as they are,” stated Paloma Sanchez.
More at: www.palomasanchez.com
Read all articles by Edward Quan
About the Author: Experienced luxury
fashion buyer Edward Quan
has worked with the most prestigious designer brands across Europe and
America and shares his inspiration for effortless style on his website, StyleDrama.com.
He has a passionate, yet intelligent way of describing his subject and
has a keen eye for detail. He lives in Vancouver, Canada.
