FRED introduces the Ideal Light High Jewelry Collection, playing on vibrant colours and emotions

FRED’s Ideal Light High Jewelry Collection is more than a display of glittering jewels and colours galore — it is a love letter to the bright and brilliant cities of Argentina.

The quote goes like this: “I ducked my head below the surface, the sun filtered through the water and suddenly, the light created a mirage of a distant country, a street corner, hawkers on a huge beach. My ideal light.” This ‘ideal light’ that Fred Samuel, the founder of French jewellery brand FRED, described can be traced back to his childhood memories of Argentina — and is also from which the Maison’s Ideal Light High Jewelry collection was born.

Known as The Sunshine Jeweller, FRED’s pieces have always had the reputation of being bright, modern and infused with light. And with the Ideal Light High Jewelry collection, the central theme is its shimmering tones of coloured stones, combined in more vibrant variations than ever. Interpreted in four sets — Blazing Audacity, Exalting Joy, Bright Vitality, Endless Horizon — the collection celebrates craftsmanship, brought to life through jewellery savoir-faire, which hence results in Ideal Light, both modern and bursting with life. 

Blazing Audacity

The first stop in FRED’s Ideal Light High Jewelry collection is the vibrant and sunny barrio of La Boca. As the birthplace of the sensual tango, this picturesque district always has a bewitching buzz in the air. Defined by tones of fiery red, pink and orange, the Blazing Audacity set is exactly what its name suggests. Five jewels that blend the organic and geometric forms Maison FRED has held dear, with each one releasing all the solar energy of Argentina.

The first, a fabulous oval red spinel weighing over 10 carats. White gold, brilliant-cut diamonds and red spinel pearls line the necklace. The meticulous placement of the spinel pearls is the Blazing Audacity’s ‘crown jewel’, hand-tied, one by one, instinctively falling into place. In the earrings, there is a play on asymmetry: their centre stones like joyful cascades, matching those of the sautoir. And the bracelet? A round spessartite garnet and a cushion-cut pink rubellite, both encircled with diamonds.

Alas, in the spirit of a duo of tango dancers, a white gold toi & moi ring completes the Blazing Audacity set. Inspired by the colourful façades of La Boca, the ring features a round, vivid-orange spessartite garnet and a cushion-cut red spinel at its top.

Exalting Joy

A little ways north of La Boca sits Montserrat, the beating heart of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Also known as the oldest district in the city, Montserrat is famed for its parades with dazzling waltz of colours and twirling costumes. Hence, the silky cottons and ornamental finery that go with these extravagant carnival costumes are what inspire the Exalting Joy set in the Ideal Light collection. Composed of blue shades stones with elusive shimmering and opalescent reflections, the pieces in this set sit somewhere between Haute Couture and High Jewellery.

Set against a white gold background and surrounded by brilliant-cut diamonds, FRED combines the white iridescent opal with the subtle blue hue of turquoise to produce a unique colourway: Opalazur. These jewels of light play on transformability, making it not only both stunning and subtle but also suitable to every mood.

The centrepiece of the set is an opulent three-in-one ring. A 9.40-carat cushion-cut tourmaline centre stone in shades of blue and green, enhanced by turquoise strips lined with white opals.

Bright Vitality

In the sprawling neighbourhood of Palermo, it’s all about unwinding. Palermo is perhaps the most peaceful place to admire the brightness of the sun’s rays reflected in the glass of the greenhouses and the lush greenery of Palermo’s botanical garden. So with that in mind, you can probably guess what colour the Bright Vitality set encompasses.

At the centre of the five pieces in this set shines a stone of the most vibrant green: emerald. And like a naturalist painter recreating the movement of palm trees caressed by the wind, FRED brings that same perfect suppleness and fluidity to its jewelry. A ribbon necklace elegantly unfurls its diamond-shaped branches to the hollow of the bust and is illuminated by two emeralds — one featuring 4.76 and the other 3.73 carats.

The second choker necklace also embraces this botanic motif, with a 5.23-carat emerald and a 4.34-carat emerald in the centre. The play of artistic contrasts of volume and lightness of the Bright Vitality set underlines the ‘full-of-life’ spirit of nature and the beauty of light, more alive than ever.

Endless Horizon

Finally, we settle on the beach of Mar del Plata. Beautiful, vast and seemingly never-ending, the intense blue panorama where the sky meets the sea makes up the Endless Horizon set — echoing Fred Samuel’s love of the sea when he said he “should have been born a fish”. Combined with his passion for sailing, FRED’s iconic cable motif has two precious interpretations here.

First, a long lasso necklace made from braided white gold rope on one side and an articulated combination of lapis lazuli with set white diamonds on the other. These two cables are held in place at their centres by a double mobile ring that allows the necklace to be adjusted to suit. This maritime duo of white and blue introduces a new interpretation of the cable: alternating lapis lazuli and rock crystal worked in the art of glyptic, and wraps around diamonds and a 4.10-carat cushion-cut Royal Blue sapphire. Think the glint of the sun on the water’s surface.

Completing the set is the FRED Hero Cut diamond, set in a ring. The diamond and sapphire paving recreates the illusion of cables with a 2.69-carat stone — a true invitation to travel and bold adventure, today and tomorrow.

Learn more about FRED’s Ideal Light High Jewelry collection HERE.