When talking jewellery designers of note, we automatically conjure names such as Tiffany, Harry Winston, Graf, Bulgari, Van Cleef & Arpels…and of course our own Mr Christopher Evans!
One name that, sadly, rarely comes to light is that of Alexandre Reza, the Russian-French jeweller who died earlier this year, leaving behind him an extraordinary collection of rare and precious gemstones and fine jewellery.
Reza was born in 1922, in Russia, to a family of jewellers who clearly saw the writing on the wall and moved to France, before the communist revolution in Russia closed down their chances of a free future pursuing their family business. They settled in Nice, where Alexandre learned his future trade in his father’s shop on rue de France.
After the second world war, Reza began his career as a diamond expert, travelling the world in search of the very best gemstones, which he then traded to many of the brands named above – Boucheron, Bulgari, Cartier, Chaumet, Gerard, Harry Winston, and Van Cleef & Arpels (but not Chris.)
He did not sell all his gemstones however; he established his own collection which he then used to found his own jewellery house in Paris in 1981, where he offered Haute Joaillerie: suites of necklaces, bracelets, earrings, rings, and objet d’art made from rare and fabulous gemstones: diamonds, emeralds, rubies and sapphires. His style is very much about opulence and luxury and his house became known for its extraordinary craftsmanship.
Sadly, Alexandre’s business was hit by a series of devastating robberies in the early part of this century and had never really regained its mojo – until Olivier Reza, Alexandre’s son, joined the business in 2008, leaving a career on Wall Street. He had some tough decisions to make – starting with whether or not it was time to close the business, or re-build. Thankfully, he chose the latter, mainly due to the incredible collection of unheated and untreated precious gems his father had built up on visits to Sri Lanka and Burma in the years after WWII.
He said, in an interview with The New York Times: ‘“After the war, my father was able to purchase quantities of natural and untreated stones in Ceylon and Burma. The Reza house currently possesses one of the world’s largest inventories of unheated and untreated coloured gemstones. When you sit on a fortune like that, you need vision and passion, and you cannot be in a hurry.”
He closed the retail stores and spend the next three years creating a new collection of fine jewellery, which was revealed in 2013 along with some vintage pieces from earlier years, in a public exhibition hosted by Sotheby’s.
The house of Reza is now firmly back on the jewellery map and his pieces act as inspiration for all lovers of fine jewellery and grand designs.