Bea Valdes: Show and Sell

So you already know that big jewels will be the big thing for fall, right? Well when it comes to the pieces you decide to go big with, there’s statement jewelry and then there’s Bea Valdes. If we had to put Valdes’ pieces into a category, we’d call them press conference jewelry because they’re way beyond a simple statement. Which is good, because we literally didn’t have the words to describe the collection when seeing it for the first time.

There are the occasional small, delicate crystals, but in most of the necklaces we saw they surrounded golf-ball sized crystals and stones. The pendants, chokers and jewelry scarves are attention grabbing in all the right ways. Despite the size of the jeweled clusters, the pieces strike a good balance with clean, modern shapes and intricate embellishments that never seem to be too much. As detailed as the images are, everything is really even more stunning in person.

Each piece takes up to 10 weeks to produce. While the time could likely be reduced by moving to factory style production, Valdes decidedly prefers to focus on artisan work and keeps production in her Manila based studio. Weeks long production and individual attention to embroidery style detail means that the resulting works won’t be in the trend or treat price range; but if you look up the definition of treasure, a picture of a Bea Valdes necklace would be more than fitting. Select pieces will be available this fall at Couture Lab.

Click the thumbnails for more images of the Bea Valdes Fall/Winter 2010 collection.