Out Of The Blue & Into The Wild

WILD Tiffany & Co.’s 2017 Blue Book Collection enthrals with its beautiful homage to Mother Nature.

- Charmaine Ho

The elevator doors ease open and I find myself faced with a looming wall clothed in lush tropical foliage; an armour of green so vivid and dense that I stop in my tracks. It’s as if I’ve stepped from the modern world straight into the Garden of Eden, when I’m actually seven storeys above Fifth Avenue, New York. I am here to preview Tiffany & Co.’s “The Art of the Wild” 2017 Blue Book Collection, in the building of the brand’s famous flagship store.

“For this year’s Blue Book, we really wanted to push [the collection] a little bit and experience nature in a wilder state,” says Chief Gemologist and Vice President of Tiffany & Co.’s High Jewellery, Melvyn Kirtley, when we meet. “So we thought about the rainforest, because there’s so much colour, so much foliage, so much brilliant sunshine and all of these natural elements combining together. That was really the inspiration.”

Glancing around the room, filled with palms, bird of paradise and peace lilies (among many others), it seems the design team—who flew to the Central Pacific island of Kauai to garner inspiration two years ago—carted the entire rainforest back to the Big Apple. It’s a beautiful setup, astonishing because of its urbane location, and it’s the perfect backdrop to this year’s bountiful Blue Book creations (in fact, a couple of the pieces have already been purchased by the brand’s international list of VIP guests who have flown in for the annual event).