On 3 April, VIP guests and members of the press gathered at XVA Gallery in Dubai in honor of the unveiling of Tiffany & Co’s RUBEDO™ metal made in celebration of the brand’s 175th anniversary. The first such creation in the history of Tiffany & Co., the name of the metal refers back to the medieval philosophy of alchemy where Rubedo was the title given to the highest achievement – a moment when matter and spirit fused to create something of rare beauty.
“We wanted to do something that no other jeweller had done before,” asserts Tiffany & Co.’s Vice President of Emerging Markets, Laurent Cathala. “The Rubedo is a new metal made of gold, silver and copper. It harkens back to the past while also preserving the classic and traditional look of a Tiffany piece of jewellery imbued with a more contemporary feel.” Metallurgists experimented with different ratios over a long testing period until they achieved the desired color and radiant glow of the piece. Rubedo is lightweight yet strong and easily polishes to a smooth luster.
Tiffany was the first American company to incorporate the 925/1000 British standard of silver purity. Largely through the efforts of founder Charles Lewis Tiffany, the U.S. government adopted the standard, and later, the jeweller’s standard for platinum (.950 pure). In the 1850s, Tiffany & Co. established a silver studio, which became the first American school of design. During this time, the brand produced exhibitions which won top awards at the Exposition Universelle (Great World’s Fair) in Paris. At the 1867 Paris fair, for example, Tiffany’s lavishly chased silver inlaid with gold, copper and enamel won the grand prize for silver craftsmanship, the first of its kind awarded by a foreign jury to an American design house. At the 1878 Paris fair, Tiffany became the first American silversmith to take home the Grand Prize for Excellence, awarded for its ingenious Japanesque silver of inlaid mixed metals and complex alloys of gold, silver, copper, bronze and platinum.
Tiffany’s RUBEDO™ metal is crafted according to this great tradition. It debuts in Tiffany 1837™ designs which feature elegant contours polished to a high luster and finished with the jeweler’s founding year. Light plays over the generous surfaces accentuating the sophisticated play of lines and polished surfaces. Among these creations is an elongated cuff, a dazzling contoured ring and also a sterling silver pendant and necklace of interlocking circles of emphasising movement and dimension. Each Tiffany 1837™ RUBEDO™ jewellery design is inscribed with the signature of the brand’s founder Charles Lewis Tiffany available throughout 2012 in celebration of the brand’s anniversary year. Graceful, elegant and simple lines combined with the craftsmanship of a great jewellery brand, Tiffany’s Metal Rubedo Collection is graciously imbued with beauty, sophistication and heritage.
Tiffany & Co., The Dubai Mall +971 43398350
