Gems of Beauty: The Sparkling Lives of Janina Dizon, Erica Concepcion Reyes, Kristine Dee, and Nicole Whisenhunt
Apr 5, 2019
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PHOTOGRAPHED BYJL JAVIER STYLED BYMEG MANZANO ASSISTED BY SOPHIA BERBANO AND KATRINA PASCUAL MAKEUP BYTOM FORD BEAUTY | RICK CALDERON, MIKKA MARCAIDA, NICOLE CEBALLOS HAIR BYRICK DIOKNOANDHELEN EGAN SHOT ON LOCATION ATARTEMIS 1995 INC PRODUCED BYNICOLE MORALES
Fine jewelry isn't usually defined by fashion trends; rather, it’s the customized outcome between the relationship of a jeweler and a client. At the top of their game are these four women who are shaping the local industry with their discerning eyes and tastes. This month, meet the names to know in the world of high jewelry: Erica Concepcion Reyes and her one-of-a-kind antique and vintage pieces; Janina Dizon's exquisitely unique East meets West designs; Kristine Dee and her romantic yet modern creations; and Nicole Whisenhunt and her distinct marriage of old and new.
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AN ODE TO THE PAST
Erica Conception Reyes
By ALICIA COLBY SY
For Erica Concepcion Reyes, the future of her jewelry collection Riqueza, relies heavily on her constant looking back to the past—something she is quite happy to do. Along with her bespoke fine jewelry line and bridge collection, Riqueza has also become one of Manila’s premier resources for one-of-a-kind antique, vintage, and estate pieces.
The young mother of three is a self-professed old soul who has always been fascinated by anything vintage and everything that is beautiful, a trait passed down to her by her great-grandmother, Doña Victoria Lopez Araneta. The wife of Salvador Araneta, brother of renowned Philippine antiquities collector, Luis Araneta, Doña Victoria was also a collector of fine art and antiquities like her brother-in-law but she did so in a quieter way, buying art and antiques only to fill her family’s 25-room pre-war mansion on Shaw Boulevard. “My grandmother and her sisters would often tell me stories about their mom and how she loved everything Filipiñana,” says Erica. “She even wore a terno every single day!”
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PHOTO: JL JAVIER
Like her great-grandmother, Erica also has a soft spot for anything that marks her Filipino heritage. From art to antiques to fashion, she says, “I love it all! but it is the spectacular jewelry from the bygone era that Doña Victoria inhabited that is closest to her heart. “In her written accounts, my Lola would often record what jewelry pieces she wore on special occasions,” she says. “She wouldn’t write about her clothes or shoes, and if she did it wouldn’t be with the same level of detail, so you could tell that her love for jewelry was truly special.”
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Since the Lopez-Araneta collection of fine jewelry was passed down to Doña Victoria’s five daughters, Erica’s paternal grandmother has gifted her with some of the family’s heirloom pieces. Erica recalls that at her wedding, she wore a pair of vintage natural pearl drop earrings set in platinum with cut diamonds. To this day they remain one of her favorite pieces, not only because of their sentimental value, but because of the way they gracefully sit on her ears and for the fluidity and spontaneity of their design. Another favorite piece passed down to her is a vintage diamond pre-war bracelet. “I just love its original patina, its mesh-like design, and the way it hugs the wrist.”
Erica’s interest in jewelry took a turn from passionate interest to a consuming career when she met the late Philippine historian, antiquarian, and jeweler, Ramon Villegas, through her husband, Francis. The two took on the roles of mentor and apprentice and quickly became good friends in the process. Ramon was the one who encouraged Erica to pursue her love for jewelry professionally. “He was already making my personal pieces, and we would meet for long lunches to talk about jewelry even when we weren’t working. He also knew members of our family and he would tell me tales of Manila’s storied past,” she says.
In 2010, Ramon and Erica collaborated on what was to become Riqueza’s debut collection with body jewelry inspired by a vintage vest of gold chains that she also inherited from Doña Victoria. “It was an older piece that was so current and relevant and we sold out of everything we made,” she continues. “My love for vintage jewelry designs influences my process the most. I draw much inspiration from pieces that I've inherited from my grandmother, as well as from other vintage jewels I've come across through the years but my favorite jewelry pieces are the ones that have been passed down to me.”
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If her designs for her fine jewelry and bridge collection made with semi-precious stones and gold-plated silver are not testament enough to Erica’s reverence of the past, one may look to her line of estate jewelry. Erica has observed that the appetite for period pieces has become increasingly popular and she has worked to develop a clientele who now seek out these pieces exclusively. Through the years, she has acquired an impressive assemblage of antique, vintage, and estate pieces from her travels where she has developed relationships with other international jewelers that allow her to source specific requests.
While all of Erica's jewelry can be viewed at her showroom in Salcedo Village, and her bridge line can also be seen during select trunk shows throughout the year, Erica also entertains clients who want to have specific pieces made or reworked. She enjoys working with clients who have their own inherited pieces but who may be looking for a way to refresh and personalize the items. “My ambition for Riqueza is to create and showcase exquisite pieces I would like to create heirlooms that can be passed down through generations, as symbols of love that are forever immortalized by a piece of jewelry.”
MILESTONES & MEMORIES
Janina Dizon
By NICOLE LIMOS MORALES
It’s difficult to talk about Janina Dizon without talking about her mother. The late (and great) Jul B. Dizon was one of the finest jewelry designers Manila’s ever had, and it is she whom her eldest daughter Janina credits with everything she’s learned about the jewelry industry.
While many children their age enjoyed playing with dolls and cars during playtime, the Dizon children often amused themselves with colorful beads and stones to pass time. Janina would stack them up and line them on dollies like toys. This was her earliest memory of jewelry. But they were really more than what they thought were just “beads and stones.” Without realizing it at that time, Janina had been playing with green emeralds from Brazil and exquisite gems from Sri Lanka. “I treasure that specific memory,” she says, “for my mom opened a door in my heart that made these minerals my friends and eventually my business.”
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PHOTO: JL JAVIER
Without a doubt, the family matriarch paved the way for the path her children took, all while allowing each to grow. “She would have me sit down with her after school and watch her work for a good long time,” Janina says. “Of course as a child, I didn’t understand why I had to do that when I could have just been playing outside. But I just watched. In retrospect, I realize I learned by osmosis, from how she interacted with everyone to how she worked.” Janina spent her childhood assisting her mom, counting stones, and eventually making her own designs. “I knew my mom was an accomplished woman at that time, but we also wanted to carve our own identity and she didn’t stop us from doing that. She would tell us, ‘Do your own design. See how you like it. See if we can sell it.’ She actually gave us a lot of freedom in that sense.”
Many of Janina’s memories of her mother involved jewelry, which is why she believes in its power to make people remember, as much scents or clothing. “To me, it gives such a more poignant feeling than smelling her perfume,” she says. “When she passed away, one of the things that we had to tackle was the distribution of her jewelry,” she shares. “We laid out each and every piece. And cried. Each item brought us back to a personal time and place that only existed between our mother and ourselves.”
In the same way, it’s also jewelry that has marked many milestones in her own life. There's the pair of blue sapphire fan earrings with diamonds her mom gave her for her grade school graduation. There’s her Transformer collection, borne from watching her children play with Lego. And of course, her engagement ring.
Janina took her craft seriously and studied at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) and gained praise and accolades here and there throughout the years, which include being a three-time finalist in the Diamond International Awards, considered the Oscars of the jewelry industry. The third generation gemologist and jewelry designer, however, is not one to sit on her laurels. “I’ve noticed that the more I stay within the confines of what I know, the more limited I am. So I tried to step out of my comfort zone especially the past year,” she says. What’s your comfort zone, we ask. “Diamonds,” she adds. “How do I make it much more than your regular solitaire? How do I transform it in the simplest of ways, do I use a jacket, do I mix it with other types of stones? It’s really that process.”
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In 2017, when Janina celebrated her 10th anniversary in the industry, she showcased a stunning 200-piece collection using 10 themes, including her signature Transformer, Exotic, and Galaxy pieces—a testament to art form by which she has truly elevated her work.
Apart from being a work of art, Janina believes jewelry is meant to be worn. She advocates wearing pieces as often as possible—instead of having them stored in the bank or the vaults like investment pieces. “People should know that they should not buy jewelry as an investment—that’s my take. I mean, I hear it all the time. But it’s really only an investment if you’re collecting a certain kind of quality, a certain kind of color, or if it’s super rare or of a certain caliber. But over all, jewelry is meant to be worn and enjoyed. Choosing jewelry is such a personal journey for every woman. When it's given as a gift, there’s also an emotional value attached to it. It really speaks volumes about everything. It allows you to mark a special milestone, earmark a special memory, and pass on that memory for generations to come.”
A MULTIFACETED WOMAN
Kristine Dee
By HANNAH LAZATIN
A series of serendipitous events led Kristine Dee to her path to becoming a jewelry designer. A year after earning her degree in Industrial Design at the De La Salle College of Saint Benilde, she packed her bags and headed to New York to her earn her master’s degree at the Pratt Institute of Design. Back then, she filled her sketchbooks with studies of plates and home accessories.
In fulfilling her postgraduate studies, she found herself mesmerized during a jewelry metalsmithing class. “Maybe it was because I liked making things on my own. Working as an industrial designer involves more people and more labor, while working on jewelry is much smaller in scale, although the application of concepts and principles are the same.” She found a renewed joy in jewelry-making, which was unexpected given her background. Kristine comes from a family whose main business is in construction and manufacturing supplies. During her childhood, however, Kristine fostered an impeccable taste for design. “From a young age, I grew fond of accessories and I noticed I loved beautiful objects—anything from houseware to cars.”
It was while she was living alone in New York that the 9/11 tragedy struck the Twin Towers. The event horrified her so much she made a snap decision to move back home.
After finding her footing back in the Philippines, Kristine simultaneously continued to work on furniture while cultivating her newfound passion for making jewelry. Moving forward, she found that concentrating on two dreams was too heavy a burden to bear. “Eventually, I had to choose which one I really had to focus on because I wasn’t doing well in both. It’s hard when you’re doing two things at once. I had to pick so I picked jewelry design,” she says. It’s easy to say the rest was history but that was just the beginning of what would currently be a 16-year long career in the industry and the founding of her eponymous brand.
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It’s in massive bridges and skyscrapers that Kristine finds fuel for her more contemporary creations, which are just a minute fraction of the size of their original source material. The self-proclaimed frustrated architect finds inspiration in Swedish-Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava Valls, whose Turning Torso building in Malmö, Stockholm is a favorite of hers. Whenever Kristine is out on the road, she collects images from her travels and collates them on a mood board for potential lines.
Kristine’s pioneer collection was released in 2003, and much like the foreign city she had arrived from two years prior, the pieces possessed an industrial charm. Geometric patterns and waves carved out of silver and gold metals, accentuated by occasional pearls, were recurring themes. To sum it up in a phrase, the series was purely contemporary. This could have been attributed to her background in industrial design, her source of architecture as inspiration, or the New York skyline still fresh on her mind. While the collection of bangles, chokers, and drop earrings made the rounds at art galleries, Kristine felt that her pieces were too advanced for their time. “Filipinos weren’t ready for that style,” she remarked. To cater to a growing market, she later learned how to strike a balance between the romantic and the modern.
Her intuition to shift paid off and she has grown a loyal following throughout the years. Beyond her abilities and techniques, Kristine finds great value in building a relationship with her clients. “I listen to the customer,” she says.
To mark her 15th anniversary last October, Kristine paid a stunning tribute to her clientele. Her most recent release, “Faces of Beauty,” was inspired by the many personalities she encountered throughout her career. “I tried to have something for everybody,” she says.
While she prepares for her next collection in October, Kristine can typically be found working in her studio along Pioneer Street, Mandaluyong or meeting with clients for custom pieces.
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IN WITH THE OLD
Nicole Whisenhunt
By PAOLO CHUA
To say that Nicole Whisenhunt’s plate is full is an understatement. On top of handling her eponymous fine jewelry brand, Nicole is very much involved in many other retail ventures. She handles contemporary accessory studio Stockton Row, lifestyle store Cura V, and multi-brand retail concept Comme Çi with her friends as partners.
The afternoon we meet, her focus is on her fine jewelry brand, as she’s being kept busy by inventory day. “It’s not fun, but I have to do it,” Nicole says. “When we do inventory for raw materials, we’re weighing gold… little gold nuggets. We’re weighing it here and there, we’re checking dust, we’re counting and weighing so many small stones.” It’s just one of the more tedious parts of being a jeweler, but to her, it is jewelry all the same.
“I’m happy to have more hours working than less because I love what I do,” she says. Nicole focuses on her brand two days a week. As a designer, however, she makes it a point to sketch designs whenever she can. Whether it’s at the Rockwell store itself or before she sleeps at night, she always finds time to squeeze in work on a design. “I love making things that, before I sleep, something it’s the last thing on my mind. Like, I’m thinking of what I’m going to do tomorrow and what I have to do. It excites me and I’m excited to wake up and do it again,” she says.
Jewelry has always been a passion of hers. In college, from her hobby of creating, she started a fashion and accessories brand. It was something she enjoyed and kept going at. Still, her most precious dream was fine jewelry, and when she turned 29, she started to transition little by little. Her first collection only had four pieces and she would show it to existing clients.
“It was very slow,” she confesses. “When I first started, I made four pieces in 18 karat gold. I had semi-precious stones I had collected through time that and was just waiting for the right time to use them. That’s what I first started with. It took me some time to professionalize it and at the same time, make big collections with 24 pieces. That came about two, three years later.”
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Over time, her techniques, processes, and materials have changed to improve. One thing that’s remained unchanged, however, is her passion for fine jewelry. Inspiration strikes her from traveling, architecture, and different kinds of beautiful design. Her love of art combined with old and new things is evident in her collections down to the design of her retail space.
“I love to modernize the old. I’m so inspired by old world elements, particularly design eras,” she says. “A lot of people have seen a lot of Art Deco elements in my works but I’m not tied down to that one era. I also love Art Noveau. I can appreciate Belle Epoque, Georgian Era, and the different designs eras of history. I think as my job as a designer, ideally, I try to just modernize them or make it more relatable to this day and age but still beautiful with small hints here and there of my inspirations.” What she always keeps in mind when designing is if she herself would want to buy or want to wear the piece. It’s a challenging process especially considering that she occasionally works with old pieces too. In the end, she says if she can combine the old and the new and create something beautiful then that’s enough.
Nicole’s use of stones in her designs is all about balance. The diamonds are there to enhance the colored stones, and give them a much needed sparkle. Diamonds are her favorite, in terms of beauty, with baguettes and rose cut diamonds topping her list. Her love for baguettes goes back to her love for the Art Deco era. “I can make things that feel modern out of a rectangular baguette,” she explains.
It’s the history behind the rose cut diamond that makes it one of her most favored. “Old cut diamonds are the rose cut diamonds of today—that’s how you would call them. They’re less faceted. Back in the day, they wouldn’t cut the way they did today because so many facets. They would cut with less, maybe they didn’t have the machinery, the technology.”
As a creative, Nicole believes you’re never tied to only one field. “I think once you have that in your blood, you never just want to do one thing. You kind of dabble in other things, but you always come back. For me, fine jewelry is my priority."
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Photographed by JL Javier Produced by Nicole Limos Morales Styled by Meg Manzano, assisted by Sophia Berbano and Katrina Pascual Makeup by Rick Calderon, Mikka Marcaida, and Nicole Ceballos for Tom Ford Beauty Hair by Rick Diokno and Helen Egan Shot on location at Artemis 1995 Incorporated
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