Plevé… a fresh approach

For a moment, forget everything you know about setting diamonds. Throw out all the rules. Now, imagine a world in which an artist can craft a beautiful mosaic — with no restrictions. No need for prongs. Remember, we’ve tossed out all the rules!

You might envision a piece of jewelry in which diamonds of varying shapes or sizes are snugly nestled right next to others, perhaps of contrasting colors, with no metals getting in the way. Welcome to the world of Plevé — a world where such unbridled creativity is possible.

Plevé is a new brand. It’s also a new technique — a new art form, really — invented by master designer Ron Rizzo. It can best be described as a free form, creative use of all possible shapes, sizes and colors in a kaleidoscopic harmony that only an artist would envision. Each piece is handmade and one-of-a-kind.
 How do they do it? It’s a newly patented process that utilizes an invisible, light-cured ceramic, rather than traditional settings. The diamonds are placed by skilled craftspeople onto a surface of pulverized crystal, hardened into place, and then polished. As Rizzo explains, it’s a new technology — and also a revolutionary new technique.

 “If you look back in jewelry history,” he says, “there have been a lot of technological inventions that have advanced the industry. But basically it has all been based on the same craft. This is a new craft.”

The artisans who assemble Plevé jewelry are not your typical stone setters. Rather, they are graduates of art schools who have been recruited to bring a non-traditional range of expertise to the table. There are accomplished illustrators, sculptors and ceramists on the team, as well as jewelry design graduates, who contribute their own esthetic sensibility to each handcrafted piece. The result — this harmony between different sizes, shapes and colors — is described by company principals as “magic.”

It’s one thing to read about it, and even better to see pictures on a printed page or on a website. But once you actually hold one of these mosaics in your hand, you will understand. Check out a few of our favorite new pieces, below.

Now available at both Reis-Nichols Jewelers locations, visit us to see these incredible works of art yourself!