Stenzhorn: New ‘Una’ collection marks brand’s 40th anniversary

Stenzhorn are a brand whose new collections always convey an artistic concept through their innovative techniques and original designs, and their latest line ‘Una’ is no exception. Stories, folklore and fairytales act as catalysts for Stenzhorn’s creative team to fashion fine jewellery with real meaning.

The ‘Una’ collection was specially launched to celebrate Stenzhorn’s 40th anniversary of design and technological innovation. Taking its name from the Latin word for “union”, the line was inspired by a scientific exploration of the Earth once having two Moons, and the fact that gravitational force of one grew into an intense and irresistible attraction for its smaller sister. The impact and force of their love fused them into the single moon we see today. Founder Klaus Stenzhorn was so excited by the idea of the two natural entities being destined to become one, that to further cement the idea of unity, he decided to name the collection UNA, Latin word of “union”.

Each of the ‘Una’ jewels retains the exceptional femininity that is a signature of Stenzhorn through clusters of round brilliant diamonds connected by tapered baguettes, all forming one larger, circular motif. The scintillating stones bring to mind stars, set at different levels to evoke these sparkling points of light illuminating the night sky. The pink sapphires and rubies are dappled throughout the collection playfully, adding pops of colour to a sophisticated and restrained palette. The Founder of the brand, Klaus Stenzhorn affirmed: “these are my favourite materials, I’m not particularly fond of mixing multiple colours in my creations; I like to keep it harmonious and clean.”

This visual harmony is achieved not just through minimal gemstone colour combinations and a white gold setting, but by a variation of the classical invisible setting, showcasing singularly invisibly set round brilliant cut diamonds and gemstones, years back presented by the brand, and revived now in the ‘Una’ collection. We have previously seen square cut sapphires, rubies and carrè diamonds which created the illusion of a precious ‘blanket’ – since no metal is visible above their surface.

For this line, Klaus Stenzhorn and his team have achieved the highest possible standards of the invisible setting technique by using round brilliant cut gemstones. Because of the nature of the circular shape, and the fact that round gemstones are impossible to position girdle to girdle in order to create one uninterrupted surface, it took a while for Klaus to study the most optimal structure to exalt the unique traits of the technique. In fact, he began developing it back in 2001, and continue to master it during the past 18 years, crafting a concept initially born in his imagination into an impressive jewellery collection. As a result, each earring, ring, pendant or bracelet in the ‘Una’ line features floating round brilliant gems.

We have made so much technical progress since then; our stone and diamond cutting, the quality and positioning of the grooves under the girdle, and the knowledge I have gained from watch production helped us to make more precise mountings. After 18 years, we have revived the technique, and we can apply it almost everywhere we can imagine. – Klaus Stenzhorn

The most spectacular piece of the ‘Una’ collection allowed for a combination of truly unique techniques and resulted in a necklace which exemplifies the best qualities of Stenzhorn jewellery. “The most challenging creation was the ‘Una’ hero necklace with more than 50 carat of brilliant cut diamonds, which we started to develop in the spring of 2018. I set an incredible task of combining our flexible and invisible techniques in one necklace. Our team had many sleepless nights because of it, but it came out beautifully, so it was worth the effort. Once we were happy with the linking of the collets, we made two necklaces – one with diamonds and another one with rubies,” Klaus tells me.

Stenzhorn’s ‘Una’ collection is an exciting line of high end and fine jewellery which displays the enormous technical prowess of the brand, while maintaining attractive, tactile characteristics and capturing a fascinating fact.

As Klaus never stops to innovate, he is already working on applying this new technique to intriguing floral designs comprised of marquise, pear and oval cut rubies and diamonds. Over the years, flowers have become a beloved design motif for Stenzhorn, and the new technique will allow the brand to showcase this theme in a completely new light.