JADE JAGGER On rocks and rock’n’roll

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jewellery
AS HER JEWELLERY GOES ON SALE AT FORTNUM &
MASON, DESIGNER JADE JAGGER, THE DAUGHTER OF
MICK AND BIANCA JAGGER, TELLS SELMA DAY HOW HER
ROCK’N’ROLL HERITAGE INFLUENCES HER WORK, WHAT
EFFECT HER PARENTS’ FAME HAS HAD ON HER CAREER,
AND WHY SHE’D LIKE TO BE A PAINTER
Rock on
How does it feel to be selling your jewellery at
Fortnum’s?
It’s great to be a part of it. I’ve always loved Fortnum’s – it’s
got great heritage. I love the tea rooms and I buy Christmas
presents here, and I think it has the right feeling to sell
jewellery. It’s not always that easy for stores to sell jewellery –
it needs a calm setting where there is the attention to detail.
Tell me about the jewellery that you’re designing now.
Making jewellery in India, there is a sort of Indian influence,
but I still have a heritage of rock’n’roll. So there are the skulls
and the new arrow collection, using different motifs, but they
are also still feminine and everlasting.
Where does the skull fascination come from – did Keith
Richards have any influence on you?
Maybe – it is a sort of rock’n’roll symbol – but I think it also
comes from some sort of rebelliousness that we’ve
had throughout the last couple of hundred years. It
gives us some sort of memory and
understanding of where we’ve come from and
where we’re going to go.
seem to enjoy it. Also, it’s not prohibitively expensive, so we
can make the things we want to make out there.
What’s inspiring you at the moment?
I’m always inspired by colour and using beautiful stones. The
new Arrow collection takes inspiration from things from Cupid
to Navajo Indians. I love the design of the motif, and I think
it’s quite fun.
Who wears your jewellery?
Different kinds of women wear my pieces, from more grownup
ladies, who you’d be surprised to know love the skull
rosaries and the beading work, to a younger crowd. There
doesn’t seem to be a particular type.
Do you think people are looking for something more
individual these days, rather than the big brands?
I think that there is a sort of backlash towards the corporate
identities of the bigger companies. I think they do give us
security and safety in branding, but I have a lot of clients who
want something a bit more unique as well as more of a
personal experience.
What is it that you love about Indian You left your role as creative director at Garrard in 2006.
culture?
How does running your own company compare to working
I’ve always worked there, so I’ve spent with such a big brand?
time there. I had a beading factory Having one’s own company I get to produce what I want,
when I started my first company, Jade and I think also the speed at which I can get there is quite
Inc. I worked in Delhi and we did a lot important to me. Sometimes when you work for a large
of embroidery and embellishment company it can take quite a long time, and that can become
there, so that was kind of my entry into very frustrating, particularly if you feel that something or
India. I’ve been working in Jaipur quite
a lot – that’s the main place that I
somebody gets there before you – if the idea gets out.
produce. I just I think it’s one of the last Is it difficult to strike a balance between being commercial
places on earth that really has that
and creative?
attention to detail that I love, and people still Yes, with all the marketing and modernity that goes on these
THIS PAGE: SILVER AND 18K GOLD VERMEIL VICTORIAN RUBY AND DIAMOND RING, £1,115
OPPOSITE PAGE: JADE JAGGER, PHOTOGRAPHED BY ROBERT ASTLEY-SPARKES