A trailblazer among jewellers

Every jewel by Angela Cummings has the key design element that all jewellery designers seek to achieve: a distinctive aesthetic that is characteristically theirs – there is no doubting who created an Angela Cummings jewel. Look for her combinations of twisted geometric forms, flowing organic shapes and inlays of mother of pearl, onyx and opal, which have been her signature throughout her career.

Whilst opportunities at Tiffany & Co. kickstarted her career, Angela’s early training in both design and manufacturing helped form her unique aesthetic. Born in Austria in 1944, but raised in the United States, Angela returned to Europe to study goldsmithing and jewellery design in Hanau, Germany, and art history in Perugia, Italy. Many jewels from across her career channel the forms and principles of European early 20th-century Modernism that she undoubtedly studied during this period. For instance, her necklaces prioritise well-designed and well-made articulating joints so that the smooth gold and inlaid shapes hug the contours of the collar bones and neck; and later in her career, when designing for her own brand, she increased her use of silver and less expensive materials such as hematite and mother of pearl to ensure her designs could reach as broad a crowd as possible.

Angela’s success during her time at Tiffany, from 1968 to 1984, was recognised early. By 1975, she was part of a very elite group of Tiffany designers, including Jean Schlumberger, Paloma Picasso and Elsa Peretti, that were allowed to sign their own collections. Her earrings and necklaces of overlapping naturalistic gold rose petals are feted examples of her work with Tiffany & Co..

Her later jewellery from her eponymous business created with her husband Bruce Cummings, a former Tiffany gemmologist, did not break away from her modern, often inlaid jewels for Tiffany & Co., but took their wearability further. Angela continued to make jewels with knot motifs and curved or geometric gold and silver outlines that played with the different ways light reflected from the metal and the areas of lapis lazuli, carnelian, onyx or opal inlay. In her bangles and torque necklaces, she often used these stones to build scales of colour that resembled the twisting body of a snake. Such was her independent success that she quickly established boutiques in the major New York department stores, as well as in Japan. These boutiques closed in 2003 upon her retirement, though she did not step completely away from designing jewellery.

Angela Cummings jewels have a wearability in both style and fit that has ensured their collectability remains as great today, if not greater, than when first released. Every piece presents a day-to-evening, Modernist look that is distinctively Angela Cummings.

If you’re searching for the Angela Cummings jewel of your dreams, reach out to our Concierge team and let our specialists hunt for you.