NAMES TO KNOW (That You May Not Know Yet)
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UNPACKING THE NAMES OF DESIGNERS, MAKERS AND CRAFSTPEOPLE BEHIND SOME OF THE BEST JEWELS YOU CAN FIND
There are jewellers, and then there is Joel Arthur Rosenthal. New York-born, Paris-made, he didn’t just create jewels — he created a closed world. No shop window, no marketing, no noise. Just some of the most desired jewels in the world, quietly circulating between those who already have everything.
Known as JAR, his language is immediate. Blackened gold. Unexpected colour clashes. Pavé so dense it reads like fabric. Pieces that absorb light rather than reflect it. And then the system: no collections, no seasons, no repeats. Each jewel is made for someone specific. It’s not the client but JAR who decides what leaves the atelier.
Born in 1943, Rosenthal studied at Harvard before moving to Paris. Early explorations in embroidery and textiles shaped his eye for colour and texture, followed by a short period at Bvlgari in New York. The turning point was singular: one gemstone commission, one private client. By the late 1970s, he was quietly operating from PLACE VENDÔME and redefining high jewellery by doing the opposite of it.
He attracted the rarest circle of patrons. A network of ultrachic ladies -including Lily Safra, Ellen Barkin, and DIANE VON FURSTENBERG- was among those who collected early, establishing his reputation through private networks. One landmark auction, Mrs Safra’s Jewels for Hope charity auction with Christie’s in 2012, firmly put JAR on the world map.
Institutional recognition followed. A major exhibition at Somerset House in 2002 presented his work in near darkness, while a 2013 retrospective at the METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART showed his work at art and confirmed his status above and beyond the jewellery realm.
Today, JAR pieces surface rarely in the secondary market. When they do, prices escalate immediately. Collectors compete, auctions surge, and demand remains constant. Because nothing about JAR is accessible, and that’s precisely the point.
With private appointments at this atelier being so hard to come by, JAR is always in high demand.
And being the only living jewellery designer whose work goes up in value the minute it leaves his Paris atelier, JAR is hotter than hot in the secondary market.
Ultimately, what's fascinating is how being so tough to get ahold of is precisely what has made Joel Arthur Rosenthal one of the most significant names in contemporary fine jewellery.
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JAR PARIS 'VALERIE' ALUMINUM EARRINGS, 2010s
