It’s the conundrum all successful jewellery designers face: how to create a retail space that is luxurious enough to welcome clients but cosy enough to not feel intimidating or corporate. A few have managed — Jessica McCormack and Solange Azagury-Partridge are doyennes of the jewellery “salon”. Now, enter jeweller Lily Gabriella and her new showroom at 73 Burlington Arcade, London.
Gabriella has been working on this project for more than a year, having first seen the rooms in November 2021. Gradually the interiors have taken shape in tailor-made finishings, cabinets and lighting for the main room on the second floor, with its 4m-high ceilings, Parisian-style slanted roof light and views of the façade of Fortnum & Mason opposite.
“It’s less of a jewellery store and more of an intimate, whimsical experience,” Gabriella says. “Almost everything is bespoke and handmade in the UK.” The main room glows with dusky pink plastered walls finished by the artist Jo Poulton (who has done paint effects for the V&A, among others); the largest area is rendered to mimic lapis lazuli (but in pink) and daubed with 24-carat gold dust and larger flecks of gold leaf; huge back-lit alabaster panels frame floor-to-ceiling mirrors. “The alabaster is cut really thin and we can dim the light behind it so it glows.”
Recessed display shelves offer a curation of jewels, books and pieces of art, a mishmash of Gabriella’s diverse background. She was born in Rio de Janeiro and raised in Monaco by a Lebanese father and Uruguayan mother, and her grandmother (the philanthropist and renowned jewellery collector Lily Safra) allowed her to play with her jewellery as a child, while her parents’ social circle of artists, architects and fashion-designer friends shaped her taste and varied aesthetic. Her standout pieces include pretty floral earrings, graphic-swirl rings, gemstones set in marble and art deco-esque cuffs.
Examples of these are nestled on 3D-printed “pebble” stands made from biodegradable plastic and housed in large tube-shaped cases. Her playful, colourful pieces sit easily inside these pared-back displays while new jewels have been crafted especially to mark the store’s opening, including an unusual feather-light titanium chain necklace set with diamonds that graduate from white to brown.
Advertisement
Downstairs, a smaller room — this time painted to imitate the deep blue of lapis lazuli and again flecked with gold — is designed for more private appointments where bespoke commissions can be discussed. “I don’t want anyone to feel intimidated or pressured when they come here, but rather to chat and hang out,” Gabriella says. A window seat here overlooks the bustling arcade below, guarded by the oldest private police force in the world, founded (along with the arcade) in 1819. In their livery, the Beadles, as they’re known, wave up whenever they see her. “Hello, Miss Lily,” they say. The store has only been open a few weeks but it’s safe to say that this jeweller has settled right in.
By appointment, lilygabriella.com
