Beyond his distinctive aesthetics, Paul Syjuco’s new collection is testament to his mastery in sourcing, cutting, and setting truly exceptional gemstones, featuring pieces inspired by his personal narratives.
Paul Syjuco marks 25 years of innovating in fine jewelry design, using unconventional materials and combinations while manipulating light and texture. Coming from a family who has been in the jewelry industry for two generations, Syjuco was passionate about building the business.
Prolific Journey
This passion fueled his pursuits, earning a certification from the Gemological Institute of America, showcasing his artistic pieces at galleries across Asia, launching his fine jewelry business Aum by Paul Syjuco, opening two boutiques (and closing one down during the pandemic), creating a more youthful diffusion line called PS ILY, all while building and earning a reputation as one of the Philippines’ top jewelers.
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The designer shares about his latest collection for Aum by Paul Syjuco, “As a gemologist, I’ve learned and love to source and curate gems of note. I personally selected every single stone in the collection.”Beyond his distinctive aesthetics, the collection also showcases the designer’s mastery in sourcing, cutting and setting truly exceptional gemstones.
Uninhibited Creativity
It’s a collection so deeply personal and encompassing that Syjuco is reluctant to box it into a single theme or title. “This collection represents the evolution of my design and where I am at the moment. My priority was for my ideas to flow. I didn’t want to be restricted to a certain design paradigm. I yearned to just create.”
The brand shares, “Syjuco is choosing to mark the occasion with the least amount of fanfare—an intimate afternoon tea at the Peninsula Boutique at the Peninsula Hotel, where he’s had his flagship for the last 10 years—and with a few clients and friends who have supported his endeavors throughout his career.”
Vividly colored stones play an integral role, with white diamonds providing an elegant and light-as-lace backdrop against which stunning gems such as emeralds, opals, peridots, jadeites and tourmalines shine. You have small studs offsetting large blue cabochon moonstones, small diamonds encircling rare demantoid garnets with diamonds, and an intense pink kunzite in an Asscher cut set within a stark white diamond frame.
Reflections of him
While the bright colors adorning earrings, bracelets, brooches and pendants feel au courant, Syjuco looked to his past for the collection’s inspiration. “There’s a piece of me in each creation. My memories and stories are in every design.”
Several earrings in the collection are inspired by a recent trip to Mexico and feature Aztec, Olmec and Teotihuacan motifs, as well as brilliant Mexican fire opals mixed with pink sapphires and gold thorns.
Among his marquee pieces, you have a long-tailed bird in yellow gold with a glistening opal belly that recalls a time during the pandemic when an oriole would regularly visit the designer’s garden, its chirping bringing a sense of hope and cheer to those despondent days.
Vibrant joyful art
Also meant to evoke happiness are a pendant featuring an Ethiopian opal and tennis bracelets linking unheated heart-shaped sapphires in rare colors. Syjuco likens these vibrant designs to playthings and candy that bring about a kind of primal joy.
Meanwhile, a Zambian emerald tassel necklace pays homage to the designs of Parisian luxury house Cartier in the 1920s, which have greatly influenced Syjuco’s designs, particularly those that were created in his earlier years as a jeweler. As he explains, “It’s a period that can’t be replicated in terms of jewelry design and elegance. There was primarily art in just the rendering of the designs themselves.”
Of the casual pieces in the collection, a series with keshi pearls symbolizes Syjuco’s penchant for the unconventional and organic. “I love keshi pearls. Their amorphousness, the unparalleled luster, the singularity of each piece,” he expounds. “They’re also quite wearable and neutral, and can be paired with anything.”
The 25th year jewelry collection will be available at the Aum by Paul Syjuco boutique on September 26 at The Peninsula Manila and on shop.paulsyjuco.com in October. Visit Instagram @paulsyjuco for updates.
Photos courtesy of Paul Syjuco.
