Larkspur & Hawk’s Luzia inspired by antique Portuguese jewels

Larkspur & Hawk’s founder and designer, Emily Satloff, loves antique jewelry as much as we do – and I do not say that lightly, my darlings.

Her latest release, Larkspur & Hawk‘s Luzia Collection, is an homage to one particular category of antique jewelry, a style and origin that makes most collectors of 18th century styles weak at the knees: antique Portuguese jewels.

The use of subtly shimmering, foiled-back gemstones is Larkspur & Hawk’s aesthetic signature. The technique is very unusual to find in contemporary designs and it’s another sign of designer Satloff’s passion for blending the unique beauty of antique jewelry with modern design principles to create soft, romantic, utterly unforgettable new styles.

Look at the lush, lovely gems of the Luzia Collection – they glow like sunrise suffusing morning mist. Gentle, inexorable, gorgeous.

An avid collector of 18th century Portuguese jewelry, Satloff named her latest collection Luzia, which means “sparkling light” in Portuguese. She is very clear that her goal is to reimagine, not reproduce:

“Even if one wanted to, it would be a futile task to attempt to recreate what some believe to be the greatest examples of 18th century jewelry. As with much art from the past, its beauty and greatness remains in the hands of time, and original, period examples should continue to be sought after and admired.

However, as a designer and lover of history, it is thought provoking to pay homage to certain aspects of antique jewelry in my modern designs.”

If you need a reminder of what antique Portuguese jewelry looks like, please click here to see my Pinterest board on the category here. Spoiler alert: it’s incredible.

The Luzia Collection is stunning. Softly glowing foiled gems offer a multitude of dreamy color combinations with foiled lemon quartz, foiled citrines, and foiled lavender moon quartz accented with diamonds, rainbow moonstones, sapphires and tsavorites for added vibrancy and sparkle.

The foiled lemon quartz resembles chrysoberyl, a favorite material in 18th century Portuguese jewels, while the foiled citrine resembles Imperial topaz and the foiled lavender moon quartz evokes opaline glass. All inspired by the past, but using its design elements to create something fresh and new.

The necklaces are the hero pieces (especially the extremely easy-to-love cushion oval necklace in the first photo above, which I’m dying to own) but I actually think the earrings are going to be the most popular part of the collection.

Available in a number of designs from simple dangling drops to Queen Anne-inspired clusters to large, colorful hoops, any pair of the Luzia Collection earrings are destined to become a favorite in their future owner’s jewelry rotation. The dreaminess of the foiled gems is incomparably lovely and appears lit from within, flickering with soft fairy luminescence in any setting.

Just look at these gently iridescent pinks and purples. If they don’t call to your inner rock-collecting goblin self, I don’t know what to show you.

I’ve been a fan of Larkspur & Hawk’s work for a long long time, but I’ve never written a whole blog post about them until now. The Luzia Collection was just so gorgeous that I couldn’t resist! A worthy tribute to a niche category of antique jewelry that holds a special place in many of our hearts.

What do you think of the Luzia Collection, my darlings? Do the necklaces call to you like they call to me, or is it the earrings that catch your eye?

For more Larkspur & Hawk, please see my archive here, or their website here. For more antique Portuguese jewelry, clkick here.

Images c/o Larkspur & Hawk.

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