YAEL SONIA

18-Karat Gold Hearts in Motion Pendant
with Pink Tourmaline

We feel so privileged to visit the Louvre Museum in France with its astounding collection of paintings, sculptures, and other antiquities.

Located inside the Louvre Palace, which was built in the 12th century, the sense of history makes the air feel electric. France is also the ancestral home of featured jewelry designer Yael Sonia.

To the delight of infants and toddlers their toys feature attention-grabbing bright colors and spherical objects that roll around inside a larger object.

These toys soothe, entertain, and captivate. The kinetic and colorful aspects of children's toys serve as the primary influence for Sonia's elegant and innovative jewelry.

A graduate of New York's Parsons New School of Design, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Product Design, Metals and Jewelry Design, Sonia established her company in São Paulo, Brazil. Her jewelry is a blend of classic elegance with kinetic movement.

South African designer Michael Berger works primarily with sleek metals, and no embellishment, but he incorporates moving, metal parts into his signature rings.

Sonia, on the other hand, uses the embellishment as the kinetic element of her structurally clean, futuristic pieces; and unlike most minimalist jewelry, the embellishment is the focal point while the metal is the accent.

The element of play and surprise is reminiscent of the designs of Italian jeweler Franco Pianegonda, and Dorothea Brill of Germany. I am amazed how implementing simple tweaks of form, such as Sonia's use of sizable, spherical gemstones with their hammered facets, increase the visual impact of the overall piece.

Sonia's beautiful 18-karat gold Spinning Wheel Bracelet, from her Perpetual Motion Collection, features orbs of blue topaz within an encased track that is open on the sides; however firmly containing the rolling gemstones.

In similar fashion, Sonia's kinetic version of the heart pendant features a single sphere of pink tourmaline set on a small track allowing the gem to move with the wearer. The track and gemstone is placed within a small, open area of the heart design so that the tourmaline sphere becomes the heart of the heart.

Prime examples of Sonia's beautifully faceted stones are featured in her Rock Collection and Kite Collection. In the former collection, sleek, thin ring bands of precious metals provide the setting for large, fluid-colored gemstones.

In the latter collection, the stones are faceted in a rudimentary diamond-shape and the surface of the stones appears to be flat and sloping inward.

18-Karat Gold Bracelet Pendant
with Replaceable Gemstones

Sonia's jewelry is a marvel of innovative design and engineering.

Production requires the utmost precision in the cutting of gemstones to fit the structure of the metal, which ultimately allows for fluid motion.