Double In Paradise

The unbreakable ties of twinship and a dedication to jewellery’s lost arts have forged a unique atelier in a magically named corner of Queensland, discovers Melissa Pearce.

- Melissa Pearce

IF YOU HOLD David Michael Jewels’ Pink Bouquet ring up to the brand’s full-length glass windows, fringed by bamboo and palm fronds that surround the boutique, your mind’s eye would be rightfully perplexed by its precious petals. Overlaid with a pastel green and pink lustre, they appear to merge into the verdant surrounds. Upon closer examination, it becomes apparent that the portable masterwork owes its verisimilitude to a subtly complex use of gemstone casts.

An impressionist’s armoury has been set loose with pavé stone brushstrokes to stake out a dream-like dimension. With the revelation that identical twins David and Michael Robinson are sequestered in a pristine suburb of Paradise Point, on Australia’s Gold Coast, the Arcadian arch of their oeuvre is poetically underscored.

Eventually the eye settles on the glorious 1.08-ct antique cushion-cut pink diamond, in a crystal line cotton candy blush, in the Pink Bouquet ring’s centre. Although the stone belongs to the brothers’ personal collection, they also have access to the world’s finest pink specimens from the remote Kimberley in outback Western Australia. In September 2017, the duo were invited to join Argyle Pink Diamonds’ Select Atelier ranks, an exclusive roster that counts only 30 or so international names. Although the New Zealanders are in the first chapter of their jewellery house, their talent had come to the attention of the Argyle Pink Diamonds team.