Colorful Candy from Italy

Are jewelry store windows starting to resemble those of a sweets shop? That is what it looks like. Today, jewelry is looking more and more like colorful and tempting bonbons.

By Giuliana De Stefani

A seemingly unstoppable desire for sweets has captured the imagination of Italian jewelry designers, and the public is responding with delectable enthusiasm to these appetizing temptations. The smooth and silky candy-like cabochon is the recent favorite on the bonbon counter and is sweetening up the shapes of rings, bracelets, necklaces and earrings.

The favored gemstones are mostly tourmaline, quartz, and mother-of-pearl, and they are all well suited to adorn any chromatic pattern. Pastel shades are popular, from baby pink to sky blue, moving on to apple green. But, even the more decisive shades are not lacking, and range from intense violets to bright purples. For those who want to create super precious jewels, they may opt for the classics like emeralds, rubies and sapphires, which have always presented splendid examples of cabochons as well as their more traditional cuts. The aquamarine appears in a milky version, which is perfect for this kind of sugary relationship.

Hard stones represent the newest entries into the latest generation of jewels. In particular, chalcedony is well appreciated, most likely because of its very beautiful shades of coloring, as well as its perfectly smooth surfaces. Whatever stone you select, the effect is quite sweet in the newest creations of candy from Italy. JQ