Byredo, best known for its once niche but now globally beloved fine fragrances such as Gypsy Water, Bal D’Afrique and Mojave Ghost, is expanding its focus to include jewelry.
The Swedish brand’s new fine jewelry collection, Virasaat, is named after the Hindi word for “inheritance,” with both the name and the style direction offering a nod to founder Ben Gorham’s Indian heritage.
The line will reportedly include necklaces, bracelets, rings and earrings made in Italy with a chain-like formation that links pearl shapes interlocked with graphic bars. Prices range from $350 for a silver ring to $27,000 for a gold necklace.
“Our process is quite long because we’re not just designing products, we’re really engineering them,” Gorham told WWD.com of the pieces. “That approach, that idea of obsessing over perfection, takes time. So we’re just done with the first iteration of the jewelry, and we thought it would be a good time to let people see it.”
Gorham says one of his influences for the line was the continued influence of hip-hop culture on him.
“In the ’90s, my big cultural influence was hip-hop, and hip-hop still has this incredible fascination with jewelry,” he says. “I was trying to make something that reflected that sense of culture and tradition, and at the same time push it into something that was highly expressive, kind of unapologetic, and that represented hip-hop culture to me.”
Byredo has dabbled with the idea in the past, working with French jewelry designer Charlotte Chesnais on one-off collaborations, but the new line will be a permanent category extension for the brand.
Byredo’s high-end makeup line is another popular offshoot, now driven by Chanel’s former global creative makeup and color designer Lucia Pica, who succeeds Isamaya Ffrench as creative director, and available Down Under at MECCA, where the fragrances are also stocked.
The new jewelry line is now available exclusively at the Byredo boutique on Rue Saint-Honoré in Paris, before expanding to other Byredo flagship boutiques from January 25.
