V Follow—Jessica McCormack’s Gem-Filled Instagram is a Jewellery Lover’s Paradise

New Zealand-born, London-based jeweler Jessica McCormack has a different definition of the traditional “four c’s” associate with her industry. Collect, craft, curate, cult are the words she chooses to live by and the very ethos that roots her eponymous jewelry label. It’s this mindset that has made McCormack’s pieces, a masterful balance of old-world inspirations with modernity, that has resonated with an all-star fanbase including VB, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.

“I grew up surrounded by antiques, art, and jewellery,” says McCormack, whose father owned an auction house in Christchurch, New Zealand. Being immersed in a scintillating setting provided the path for a young McCormack to intern in Sotheby’s London Fine Jewellery department. Coupled with her astute eye, McCormack began to reimagine antique pieces for today. Her Tattoo collection, diamond spirals that punctuate wearer’s ears, necks, and fingers with a subtle, yet impactful pop, is based on Ta Moko, the Maori art that distinguished between various tribes and ancestry.

But as much as McCormack takes cues from the past, she isn’t beholden to it. “I’m a modern girl!,” exclaims McCormack, “while some of our signatures are antique…we’re inspired by everything from the past to the retro-future.” Any favourite materials? “Diamonds. Always diamonds. I love. How they can be softened and made more wearable and relaxed. [They] can be harsh and flinty in the wrong setting.”

And while she’s enhanced the sparkle of some of the most famous faces in the world, is there anyone McCormack wants to see in her pieces? “The late artist Louise Bourgeoise,” says McCormack.  “I’d have taken those little gold hoops she always wore and added a couple of tiny diamond gypsets, just to have the chance to meet her.” Art meets function, with a dash of diamonds, just the way McCormack prefers it.