last update: May 18th 2013

Jewellery

Wonderland collection by Boodles is a gem-studded trip on the Silk Route

Wonderland collection by Boodles is a trip on the Silk Route

by Fiona Brutscher | May 21st 2012 | 11:26 am

Palazzo earrings, Paisley ring and Wild Swan necklace from the Boodles Wonderland collection

Boodles is a very British jeweller, a family business that has been run from Liverpool since its foundation in 1798. Much like the company's home city was long enriched by a lively port and brisk trade with the East Indies, China and the Americas, Boodles creations are always inspired by the big world beyond Blighty.

The new Wonderland collection takes its core inspiration from the ancient Silk Routes that have connected Europe and Asia for more than 2,000 years. The jewellery from this collection incorporates traditional and exotic elements and reflects the many landscapes and cultures along the route, as well as the goods that were once traded on it.

The Rising Sun pendant, earrings and ring allude to the Orient not only in name, but also through the fan shape so readily associated with Chinese and Japanese style. The Kyoto designs, named after the former Japanese imperial residence, were inspired by illustrations depicting a tree with blossoming branches by a river. The Emperor suite, meanwhile, is more specifically Chinese-inspired, with the dragons referring to the fact that 2012 is the Year of the Dragon, a lucky year in the Chinese Zodiac.

The prototypes for the Lovebird and Palazzo ranges are both found in Samarkand, a key trading point on the Silk Route. The colours and motifs found on antique embroidered silks and tapestries on the market inspired the former, the shape and feel of the palace pillars, sculpted and engraved to create a layering effect, the latter. Indian textile designs provide the origin for the shapes used in the Riviera and Paisley suites of jewellery. The Damask Rose pieces explicitly make the connection between Asia and Europe, as this rose was brought from Syria to Britain, allegedly in the middle ages. The Ocean suite necklace, drop earrings and bracelet focus not so much on the distant East, but on the journey, with Oriental wave motifs.

Finally, with the Papillon (showing delicate butterflies) and Wild Swan (based on Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake) designs, the precious journey along the Silk Route reaches its European destination, where Boodles have turned all these exotic and traditional, European and Asian inspirations into the Wonderland collections. The sparkling creations, featuring a plethora of diamonds, pearls an other precious stones, such as imperial jade, tanzanites, sapphires, and tourmalines, can let its owner wear a piece of an exotic wonderland, even if she, like Boodles, is British through and through.

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