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| Gems & Jewelry |
Tomorrow's Classics
Jill Newman
08/02/2004
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Members of Joel Arthur Rosenthal’s exclusive clientele recognize one another
as might members of a secret society: by their bedazzling, bespoke jewels in his
unmistakable style. JAR, as the elusive designer signs his pieces, fashions
brooches as butterflies, life-size flowers, even zebra and horse heads, in
intricate mosaics of pearls, violet sapphires, blood-red rubies, colored
diamonds and green garnets. Some of his pieces comprise more than 10,000 stones.
He has perfected a technique of making a thin diamond thread, shown to its best
effect in a ring that spells out éternité, one of his most famous pieces. Each
JAR opus is a one-off creation crafted for the likes of Madonna, Marella
Agnelli, Barbara Walters and a slew of Rothschilds. Jewelry experts have hailed
Rosenthal as the greatest 21st-century designer. The mystery that surrounds the
man is as compelling as his talent.
 | | MISH TWORKOWSKI, brooch. |
Rosenthal, 63, is a native New Yorker who
studied philosophy and art history at Harvard before moving to Paris and opening
JAR in 1979. He is notorious for being, bluntly put, ornery and cantankerous. He
flatly refuses most interview requests and will not sell to anyone he dislikes;
some suspect him of cultivating rudeness to illuminate the aura of privilege
when he does accept a customer, much as Peter Carl Fabergé did in the 19th
century. Working in his strictly by-appointment-only atelier, located in Paris
off Place Vendôme near the Ritz, and with no signs or display windows, he
creates a limited number of pieces each year.
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