A Book Review of “Sybil and David Yurman: Artists and Jewelers”

What some may not know is that David Yurman is a sculptor, and Sybil is a painter and ceramicist. Including more than 400 images from their personal collection, many are being published for the first time, weaving a narrative of the company’s trajectory as well as their creative inspirations.

Original design sketches and behind-the-scenes images from hundreds of fashion campaigns have been aggregated for this publication. Models who have been loyal ambassadors include Kate Moss, Amber Valletta, Naomi Campbell, and Gisele Bündchen. They are featured, channeling feelings of nostalgia, while still timeless and fresh. Such is also the case with artwork by the duo. 

Sybil Yurman’s paintings often landed in jewelry collections filtered through her inspired brushstrokes, colors, and broad sweeping shapes. Where she worked in two dimensions, David Yurman’s sculptures added form and volume to their practice. This rings true for their iconic Cable bracelet created in 1983, as well as many other classic pieces.

For years, the Yurmans worked with photographer Peter Lindbergh (1944-2019) as a collaborator. His stark, dramatic photos helped to define the look of the brand. Lindbergh’s black and white images often radiate light emerging from darkness and shadow— the photographic interpretation of chiaroscuro. 

What could be considered unusual for a jewelry company, the black and white images are so incredibly elegant and unexpectedly leave much to the viewer’s imagination. 

In the case of a photo featuring Amber Valletta wearing Rio Knot and Noblesse rings in St. Bart’s, she appears to have just bitten into a watermelon. The image is cool and refreshing, yet also colorless. It somehow invites the audience inside, beckoning them with the flavor and imaginary juicy pink of watermelon flesh.

In Fragments of Light (1972-75), a pastel, graphite, and acrylic painting on paper by Sybil Yurman, a plane splits the surface ground into three evenly-spaced layers— pine green, a warm rusty brown, and grass green divided by thin stripes of golden yellow and sea foam blue. In the foreground, Yurman painted seven vertical stripes, dissected by facets of color, a rainbow of geometric forms. 

If one should squint, these same shapes could have easily radiated off of (or inspired) the rich, cut stones such as those found in their 25th Anniversary Mosaic cuff from 2011. The cuff includes garnet, pink tourmaline, peridot, and pavé-set diamonds, large rich fruity colors wrapped in a braided, twisted metal finish.

While David Yurman’s collections have lined the glossy pages of magazines for decades, knowing that his wife’s painting has played a role in his creative process adds another level of intrigue that the monograph not only touches upon, but deftly explores.

Editor Thierry-Maxime Loriot has curated exhibitions such as Thierry Mugler: Couturissime, The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk, and others. In 2017, he spoke to Forest Magazine about curating, “It’s more about passion and obsessions of the artists and behind-the-scenes than about anything else. 

This way, you can learn about how they came up to this or that and understand the artists. If you go to an exhibition about Lindbergh, you will, for example, understand what led him to shoot with industrial cities as backdrops, as he is from one, and that is what his idea of beauty is.”

Sybil and David Yurman: Artists and Jewelers promises just that… to share an intimate look at what their idea of beauty is.

Pre-order the book here: Sybil and David Yurman: Artists and Jewelers (Phaidon, $69.95)