The divide between “art” and “craft” is the subject of age-old debate, but when it comes to high jewellery, the two converge into something more akin to magic. The creation of these unique items, with their complex designs and intricate execution, requires teams of specialised artists and expert craftspeople dedicating thousands of hours over the course of months or even years. They are also vanishingly rare – top houses produce only a few dozen each year. This rarity, combined with the exquisite gems, elaborate designs and highly skilled handwork, continues to fascinate and enchant; hence the crowds packing the ongoing Cartier exhibition at the V&A.

For dreamers, collectors and connoisseurs alike, we examine a selection of the best high jewellery currently available and consider what makes each piece so special.

Boucheron

Boucheron creative director Claire Choisne is one of the most adventurous contemporary designers, unafraid to use high-tech materials and methods for her annual Carte Blanche collections, or to reference the archives in novel ways for the Histoire du Style diamond-based series. This year, Untamed Nature depicts plants in almost forensic detail, made entirely from white gold and diamonds. The Avoines hair jewel, which transforms to a brooch, features lifelike oat stems, each seed head articulated to dance with the slightest movement, while painstakingly snow-set pavé diamonds shimmer and reflect the light.

Cartier

Although the jewellery behemoth is known for a wide range of fine accessories and perfumes today, Cartier still stands or falls by its high jewellery collections, which find fresh ways to reference historic styles such as Art Deco, Indian-inspired tutti frutti, and animals like the iconic panther. The current third “chapter” of its Nature Sauvage theme includes the Echina necklace, with influences as intricate as its construction. Tutti-frutti-carved Zambian emerald beads tipped with rubies rest alongside sapphire beads on a diamond-and-white-gold framework referencing Art Deco and Islamic architecture in a timeless yet modern design.

Chopard

Driven by its co-presidents, siblings Caroline and Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, Chopard thinks outside the box – from its Red Carpet high jewellery collections and sponsorship of the Cannes Film Festival, to its commitment to ethical material sourcing, right down to the smelting of traceable gold. In 2022, Chopard purchased Insofu, a 6,225-carat Zambian rough emerald from which expert cutters have harvested 850 carats of top-quality gems, making two collections thus far. The second comprises 15 innovative pieces, among them these bold earrings in ethical white gold, platinum and titanium, textured and vividly coloured with two emerald-cut stones (11 carats), 20 pear cuts (3.54 carats) and an edging of graduated diamonds.

Dior

Dior high jewellery appeared in 1999, when few other fashion houses offered unique pieces to match their haute couture. Designer Victoire de Castellane immediately introduced glowing coloured gems and innovative finishes like bright lacquer, often evoking the fine details of couture work like lace, ribbons or pleating, or referring to the symbols that guided the rather superstitious Christian Dior’s life. The new Milly Dentelle collection depicts delicate lace – a couture favourite – and features this ring showcasing a 3.05-carat oval diamond, petals of marquise and pear-shaped diamonds with yellow diamond centres, seed pearls and white and yellow gold.

Garrard

The former Crown Jeweller is one of Britain’s most historic houses. It was founded in 1735, became the first Crown Jeweller in 1843, and created many iconic royal jewels, from recutting the Koh-i-Noor in 1852 to making the engagement ring for Diana, Princess of Wales in 1981 (now worn by Catherine, Princess of Wales). Today, creative director Sara Prentice and her team design modern high jewellery collections. The latest, slightly Art Deco-influenced suites include the Northern Lights cuff – a fluid, undulating white-gold design highlighting diamonds and graduated slivers of rare Golden Lips mother-of-pearl, as well as an edging of toning sapphires, tsavorites and green tourmalines. It took 450 hours to complete.

Graff

The London-based jeweller, founded by Laurence Graff in 1960, has become a force in the world of diamond mining and processing, especially of large coloured stones. It has recently created one of its most dramatic and complex pieces: the Gift of Love necklace. Set around a rare 13.51-carat fancy intense yellow, pear-shaped diamond and containing over 2,300 pear-shaped, round and baguette white diamonds, the open-ended collar took three years and 6,000 hours from concept to completion. The white-gold birds have blue sapphire eyes and black onyx beaks, while the body of the necklace represents a feather with articulated barbs of baguette diamonds.

Harry Winston

The American jewellers – whose founder was dubbed “the King of Diamonds” – still love sparkle, but they have branched out in terms of materials, particularly for timepieces. The latest in their nature-inspired Marvelous Creations series is Wild Treasures, ten unique métiers d’art pendant/wristwatches by Japanese artist Riusuke Fukahori, who is known for his paintings of goldfish, themselves symbols of fortune and luck. Miniaturising his art to fit a 38mm dial is intense, as each detail is painted separately and then covered in clear resin, which takes three days to set, adding depth to the design. The white-gold case is snow-set with toning gems, and the chain has seven snow-set diamond “bubbles”.

Tiffany & Co.

Founded in 1837, Tiffany & Co. is arguably the most celebrated jeweller in the United States, with a reputation for hunting out the best gems and new stone varieties long before Breakfast at Tiffany’s made it a household name. The maison’s famous Blue Book began as an early mail-order catalogue; today, it features their finest high jewellery, such as the extraordinary Phoenix necklace from the late 2024 Tiffany Céleste collection. This modern, almost abstract piece recalls both the fire and the flying bird of legend, featuring matching, glowing red rubellites of 73 carats surrounded by a pavé of diamonds and the orange shades of rare Umba sapphires found only in one valley in Tanzania.

Van Cleef & Arpels

This grand Parisian house’s reputation for feminine design and innovative, perfectionist craftsmanship began in 1906. Its high jewellery collections are wide-ranging, with the newest, Treasure Island, based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s eponymous book. It includes both figurative (carved gold and gem brooches) and impressionistic pieces, like the incredible white-gold Écume Mystérieuse necklace, showing off the remarkable mystery setting in which tiny “tiles” of velvety sapphires are set so closely that no metal appears – extremely difficult on a curved surface – and then studded with diamond “foam” and overlaid with stylised diamond breakers. A tour de force influenced by both Art Deco and Hokusai.