Pet jewellery, the latest trend driven by Taylor Swift: Gigi Hadid gave the songstress a piece featuring her cat, Benjamin Button and now Cece, Irene Neuwirth and others are making rings and pendants

A gift to Taylor Swift from her friend Gigi Hadid of a ring featuring an enamel portrait of Swift’s cat, Benjamin Button, within a pearl border, Swift’s favourite number (13) and her boyfriend Travis Kelce’s jersey number (87), went viral on social media last year. The ring, by London-based Cece Jewellery, reminds us of the emotions wrapped up in a gift of jewellery and how it can celebrate not just the people we love, but our pets too. As we seek more ways to customise, jewellery designers have introduced bespoke ways to immortalise our beloved four-legged friends with gold pendants, crystal intaglios and enamelled signet rings bearing their portraits. At Cece Jewellery the process starts with a consultation and “a favourite photo of your furry or feathered friend, as their portraits are crafted to be as true to life as possible, [along with] a chat to explore meaningful details to incorporate into the design,” explains founder Cecilia Fein-Hughes, who suggests weaving a favourite toy, flower or cherished memory into the colourful memento mori-style design. “It’s all about capturing their unique personality and the bond you share in a bespoke and beautiful way.” Following the design process, the enamelled portrait on a gold ring or charm takes 16 to 20 weeks to produce. “It is one of our favourite things to design,” she says mentioning a cheeky parrot, cats, dogs “and even a pet tortoise with a tiny hand-painted flower” among her commissions. Irene Neuwirth in Los Angeles and Francesca Villa in Turin, Italy, are similarly immortalising pets in jewellery. Their materials overlap but they differ in style. Both use reverse intaglio, a technique that sees portraits hand-carved and painted in relief on a cabochon crystal quartz. “The carvings are done in Germany, but everything else is done in California,” explains Neuwirth, whose Pet Portrait charms and rings have become a signature of her collection. Each miniature work of art is backed by mother-of-pearl, abalone or opal and set in 18k gold with jewel accents. Prices range from US$8,000 to US$12,000. It’s been about a decade since she started, “and oh my goodness we have done a squirrel, a bird and many gorgeous dogs, cats and horses”, she says. Francesca Villa’s Being Furry collection offers bespoke intaglio portraits, with the background sometimes coloured with enamel and then sealed with mother-of-pearl to protect the painting. The process takes 10-12 weeks, with prices ranging from US$5,480 to US$9,990 and more. Villa has immortalised her own dog, Mannie, in a ring for her daughter. She explains how inspiration came from Essex crystal, a material favoured by the Victorians and named after the miniaturist painter William Essex. “I discovered many beautiful vintage crystals featuring gorgeous dogs [and] then discovered a pair of master carvers in Germany who were able to recreate this technique with a beautiful eye for artistry,” she says. She used the technique for another collection, but then customers started requesting jewels of their own pets. Villa’s designs can be customised with different background colours, enamel detail and gemstones “to celebrate my clients’ precious pet in a design unique to them”. Another method of personalisation comes from London-based goldsmith Castro Smith, a master intaglio engraver who produces customisable silver signet rings featuring pets in a romantic gothic style, like a sprinting greyhound, with additional motifs like a halo and wings perhaps as a memento mori. Alternatively, Azlee Jewelry in New York creates customisable gold pendants featuring pets’ paw prints,using a technique similar to fingerprinting. A specialist ink kit is dispatched to customers to make a print that can then be digitised and hand-engraved, creating a treasured memory.

Pet jewellery, the latest trend driven by Taylor Swift: Gigi Hadid gave the songstress a piece featuring her cat, Benjamin Button and now Cece, Irene Neuwirth and others are making rings and pendants

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Immortalise your animal friend with a heartfelt miniature portrait by Francesca Villa, Castro Smith or Azlee Jewelry

Immortalise your animal friend with a heartfelt miniature portrait by Francesca Villa, Castro Smith or Azlee Jewelry