Jewelry Brand to Know: Kendra Pariseault

New York—It isn’t often that a new jewelry designer comes out of the gate declaring her love for a particular gemstone, but a peek at Kendra Pariseault’s debut collection leaves no doubt of her allegiance to pink sapphires.

“My engagement ring is a pink sapphire, so it’s a very personal stone for me,” Pariseault said.

The New York City-based designer noted that in general, “I wouldn’t consider myself a super-pink girl,” instead favoring black and gray in her wardrobe. For jewelry, though, she makes an exception.

“I’ve always loved color in my jewelry, and the shade of these hot pink sapphires is like candy; you almost want to eat them.”

The designer discovered her love of colored gemstones at David Yurman, where she went to work during the 2008 recession after having worked in the fabrics department at Calvin Klein.

“There was something about jewelry that felt more exciting than apparel did for me. I loved how, when you see a gorgeous stone, it really speaks to you in a certain way,” she said.

She left David Yurman to pursue a master of fine arts in jewelry and metalsmithing at the esteemed Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where the program “taught me and trained me how to think about concepts and bring those concepts to reality.”

The concept that Pariseault explores in her first collection is sound as a memory marker of important life events.

The designer recalls how the sound of the ocean in her native Rhode Island, where she still spends her summers, functions almost as a personal soundtrack to her own life.

Likewise, moments like hearing her son’s heartbeat for the first time when she was pregnant or the sound of a deceased relative’s voice captured in a saved voicemail on a cell phone are intense memory triggers.

  
 
 
 
 





 
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A post shared by Ashley Davis (@ashleylikesgems) on Mar 2, 2019 at 9:44am PST

From this idea, Pariseault has crystallized the sound waves of specific words or moments in jewelry, making the visual form of a sound wave permanent courtesy of 14-karat yellow gold, often accented with her beloved pink sapphires.

The specific shade of the 14-karat yellow gold alloy the designer uses was chosen for the way it complements, rather than competes with, the color of the sapphires.