Cover Hemmerle’s latest avant-garde project, Infused Jewels (Photo: Courtesy of Hemmerle)

Infused Jewels is a new project from German jeweller Hemmerle that blends their rich heritage with healing herbal tea and literature

Established in 1893 in Munich, Hemmerle occupies a respected position amongst Europe’s finest jewellers, with a distinguished history of catering to the nobility. Owned and operated today by the fourth generation of the Hemmerle family, the jeweller has in recent years earned a reputation for adventurous creativity and a contemporary sensibility, all the while remaining true to its heritage and traditions of classic craftsmanship.

Hemmerle’s latest exploration of the avant-garde comes in the form of its innovative project, Infused Jewels. This multifaceted, multisensory collection draws inspiration from the tastes, scents, visual beauty, and health-giving properties of herbal teas.

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Photo 1 of 6 The Herb Garden (Illustration by Rosanna Tasker)
Photo 2 of 6 Bee and Granny in the garden (Illustration by Rosanna Tasker)
Photo 3 of 6 Ginger Flower, aluminium, bronze, white gold and diamonds (Photo: Courtesy of Hemmerle)
Photo 4 of 6 Ginger Flower (Photo: Courtesy of Hemmerle)
Photo 5 of 6 Lemon Myrtle (Illustrations by Rosanna Tasker)
Photo 6 of 6 Lemon Myrtle, aluminium, bronze, white gold, diamonds and demantoids. (Photo: Courtesy of Hemmerle)

Conceptualised and created over the course of four years, the project comprises ten pairs of earrings and three brooches, as well as a bespoke tea blend, an illustrated modern fairy tale and a hand-crafted tea caddy. Hemmerle hopes Infused Jewels will encourage its admirers to slow down and savour life’s pleasurable moments, just as the ritual of making tea forces one to pause and be mindful of the present moment.

It was the bespoke tea blend—a concoction created by Hemmerle in partnership with Romana Auth of Kräutergarten München, Munich’s first ecologically certified herb house—that served as the jumping-off point for the project. The carefully chosen ingredients in each blend subsequently inspired Hemmerle’s designers and master craftspeople in the execution of a particular item of jewellery.

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Photo 1 of 3 Cornflower (Photo: Courtesy of Hemmerle)
Photo 2 of 3 Perennial Coneflower (Photo: Courtesy of Hemmerle)
Photo 3 of 3 Lemon Balm, aluminium, white gold, tsavorites (Photo: Courtesy of Hemmerle)

Rose, for example, informs a brooch sculpted from anodised aluminium, featuring at its centre a stunning vintage mine-cut diamond. In a second brooch, orange blossom petals are rendered in bisque porcelain by German manufacturers Nymphenburg, a master of this medium, then adorned with rare natural pearls and demantoid garnets.

The project also features earrings inspired by ginger flowers set with diamonds and articulated for dazzling movement, and abstract lavender earrings with blue tanzanite petals. The latter boasts an integrated compartment designed to be filled with real lavender which will envelope the wearer in its soothing scent.

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Photo 1 of 3 Rose, aluminium, white gold and diamonds (Photo: Courtesy of Hemmerle)
Photo 2 of 3 Rose (Photo: Courtesy of Hemmerle)
Photo 3 of 3 Rose (Illustration by (Photo: Courtesy of Rosanna Tasker)

The literary element of Infused Jewels was dreamt up in collaboration with British poet and author Greta Bellamacina who has written a fable, The Herb Garden, examining the reintroduction of nature into a metropolitan setting.

Bellamacina said she set out to weave a narrative that was “timeless; set in a world similar to ours, but slightly more magical and magnified, equally enjoyable for adults and children”. The tale features enchanting hand-drawn illustrations from noted artist Rosanna Tasker.

As the jewellery and accompanying story of whimsical fantasy owe their existence to the unique tea blend, it is only right that the latter be stored in a special place. Like the orange blossom brooch’s central petals, the handcrafted custom tea caddy is the work of Nymphenburg, the Bavarian porcelain workshop founded in 1747, where the same traditional techniques are used today as were practised three centuries ago.

While resolutely contemporary, Infused Jewels nevertheless draws upon time-honoured artisanal techniques, providing the perfect balance of modernity and craftsmanship that is steeped in history.

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