British fine jeweller Shaun Leane is known for his fresh, dynamic perspective on 21st century jewellery. His pieces are worn not just by the fashion mavens and socialites but also models strutting down the catwalk. After all, Leane was the only jeweller with a standing collaboration with Lee Alexander McQueen, having created some truly fantastical jewelled sculptures for the late designer.
A familiar name in the fashion world, his masterpieces have also crossed paths with those of other creative and artistic houses such as Daphne Guinness, Nick Knight, Boucheron, Damien Hirst and more, some of which are exhibited in the V&A and MoMA.
His pieces have been described by Sotheby’s as ‘desired antiques of the future’ and in 2017 sold on a dedicated online platform that celebrates Leane’s two-decade-long dalliance with fashion and couture. This year, for the Phillips jewels department’s latest online destination, Flawless, he offers 12 exceptional pieces that bridge beauty and danger, comfort with unease, strength with softness, aesthetics with preciousness.
Shaun Leane and Phillips have worked together to curate this magnificent collection which includes highlights from Leane’s archives as well as some previously unavailable pieces, with a focus on the most iconic examples of his signature craftsmanship, fluid energy, and fearlessness.
Shaun Leane was the only jeweller with a standing collaborative partnership with Lee Alexander McQueen
Says Paul Redmayne, head of private sales, jewellery, at Phillips, “Shaun Leane [is] a remarkable innovator and trailblazer. His genre-defining jewels have a powerful, emotive and often poignant beauty—reflecting the romance, unstoppable force and compelling contradictions of the natural world.”
The couture feather fan earrings, for instance, are reminiscent of the porcupine fan earrings seen at McQueen’s SS03 show. The sabre diamond earrings take us back to the skeleton corset first made in SS98. The hook diamond earrings could have been a fragment of the crown of thorns headpiece of AW96…
This digital jewellery salesroom comes just after the jeweller’s book Shaun Leane got published. Chronicling Leane’s illustrious career and featuring essays by gemologist and jewellery historian Joanna Hardy, V&A fashion curator Claire Wilcox, and jewellery writer, historian and journalist Vivienne Becker, it is also available for purchase online.
Taking the experience offline as well, the collaboration will continue into 2021 with a selling exhibition dedicated to Leane’s work penned for London and New York, dates and venues to be confirmed.
“Flawless provides an additional platform for both online and offline sales for anything from a 1 carat engagement ring, a 10 carat Vivid Pink diamond, or an Art Deco Tutti Frutti Cartier bracelet, thus enabling us to engage instantly with collectors 365 days a year in the medium of their choice—WhatsApp, WeChat, text, email, phone, etc,” says Redmayne. “In addition, Flawless will showcase the jewellers of today and tomorrow, giving them their rightful voice in what is traditionally a heritage market.”
Click here to shop the Shaun Leane collection on Phillips Flawless.
