Royal Asscher Teams with Design Sisters for Jewelry Collection - 

Not many jewelry houses have a history as long and storied as Royal Asscher. Its legacy spans 160 years, and the company is renowned for its namesake diamond cut and for cleaving the largest diamond ever discovered. It continues to make news for its contemporary jewelry and an expanding offering of striking pieces in colored gemstones.

The Amsterdam-based firm recruited hometown design talent for its latest collection. Sisters Jetteke and Lieke van Lexmond—a fashion editor and a television personality, respectively—collaborated with Royal Asscher to create a vibrant assortment of pieces unlike anything the company has produced before. The Seychelles and the unusual flora and fauna found there inspired the tightly edited range of 26 pieces.

Consisting primarily of items depicting the islands’ unusual vegetation—like the coco-de-mer, a fruit found only in the Seychelles—each piece is crafted in 18-karat gold (starting at about $2,100). Some are composed exclusively of the metal, like an elegant serpentine necklace with a texture that mimics the bark of a coconut tree. Others are more exuberant in their shapes and colors. A pendant shaped like a bisected pear reveals the fruit’s interior, complete with black-diamond seeds; a pair of oversize earrings shaped like palm fronds are topped with electric-green tsavorites; and a charm bracelet dangles a pineapple, a lychee, a strawberry, and other fruits accented with diamonds, emeralds, rubies, and pink sapphires.