MAGICAL THINKING

In preparation for the season of enchantment and giving, jewellers and designers turn to myths and fairy tales.

- Words MINDY TEH

The holiday season draws near, and thoughts turn to fairy tales and wonder. It is a time when even the most rational among us allows for a touch of magic, when light and reflection seem to draw out the extraordinary and the marvellous. In jewellery collections unveiled this year, fairy tales, myths and symbols are realised through delicate craftsmanship, transforming gemstones and precious metals into creations that invite their wearers into a world of marvels.

For Victor Tuzlukov – one of the world's great master gem-cutters and himself a writer of fairy tales – this sense of enchantment is inseparable from creation itself. Tuzlukov's approach is both philosophical and methodical. Before he begins cutting, he “attunes” himself to the gem, treating it as “a younger brother and a teacher”. He says, “Whether I'm writing a fairy tale or cutting a sparkling miracle, it's a transformation of reality that can evoke a creative resonance in people.”

Tuzlukov oscillates between the clinical precision of gemology and something closer to poetry. He believes a gem's flaw can be part of its story, a lesson in imperfection permeating into life itself. “Continuous self-improvement is the main goal of human evolution,” he says. “The concept of improvement is much deeper than simply eliminating flaws. This is precisely what almost all my fairy tales speak to. We already discussed ‘humanising’ a stone... but can a ‘flaw’ be part of its beauty? First, what do we consider a flaw? A crack, for example, never beautifies a stone. An inclusion can, if made into a design element (for example, rutile stars in quartz).”