LIFE IN JEWELS - historian Diana Scarisbrick
06/03/21 • 54 min
Carol talks to the leading jewellery academic Diana Scarisbrick – an author, curator and specialist in neo-classical gems – who studies the cultural, social and political significance of jewellery. Over her 50-year career she’s written more than 20 books, including such definitive works as Rings: Jewellery of Power, Love and Loyalty; Jewellery in Britain from 1066-1837; Portrait Jewels: Opulence and Intimacy from the Medici to the Romanovs; and most recently Diamonds: 700 Years of Glory and Glamour. Diana has also amassed a personal collection of Renaissance, 17th- and 18th-century rings. Now in her 92nd year, she is immersed in academia, and her enthusiasm, joie de vivre, and work ethic are as strong as ever.
For more information, please see: www.carolwoolton.com
Follow Carol Woolton: @carolwoolton
Produced by Natasha Cowan @tashonfash
Music and editing by Tim Thornton @timwthornton
Creative direction by Scott Bentley @bentleycreative
Illustrations Jordi Labanda @jordilabanda
Read Carol Woolton in Vogue magazine – vogue.co.uk/fashion/jewellery
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Carol talks to the leading jewellery academic Diana Scarisbrick – an author, curator and specialist in neo-classical gems – who studies the cultural, social and political significance of jewellery. Over her 50-year career she’s written more than 20 books, including such definitive works as Rings: Jewellery of Power, Love and Loyalty; Jewellery in Britain from 1066-1837; Portrait Jewels: Opulence and Intimacy from the Medici to the Romanovs; and most recently Diamonds: 700 Years of Glory and Glamour. Diana has also amassed a personal collection of Renaissance, 17th- and 18th-century rings. Now in her 92nd year, she is immersed in academia, and her enthusiasm, joie de vivre, and work ethic are as strong as ever.
For more information, please see: www.carolwoolton.com
Follow Carol Woolton: @carolwoolton
Produced by Natasha Cowan @tashonfash
Music and editing by Tim Thornton @timwthornton
Creative direction by Scott Bentley @bentleycreative
Illustrations Jordi Labanda @jordilabanda
Read Carol Woolton in Vogue magazine – vogue.co.uk/fashion/jewellery
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Previous Episode
SUPERSTITIOUS GEMS - Stephen Webster and Dr Jeffrey Post
Jewellery is one of the oldest decorative arts, originally answering our need for adornment in the form of shells, feathers, bones and pebbles. This rich cultural history dates back beyond recorded history. Their rarity and beauty meant they were used as decoration as well as amulets, to ward off evil. Gradually jewellery became attached to status, but stones were still considered to bring good health, wisdom and love, while superstitions and curses associated with others linger to this day. Dr Jeffrey Post, mineralogist and Curator of Gems and Minerals at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (home to the infamous Hope Diamond) and British jewellery designer Stephen Webster, the original rock’n’roll jeweller, discuss stones with supernatural powers.
For more information, please see: www.carolwoolton.com
Follow Carol Woolton: @carolwoolton
Produced by Natasha Cowan @tashonfash
Music and editing by Tim Thornton @timwthornton
Creative direction by Scott Bentley @bentleycreative
Illustrations Jordi Labanda @jordilabanda
Read Carol Woolton in Vogue magazine – vogue.co.uk/fashion/jewellery
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Next Episode
BRIDGERTON - Ellen Mirojnick and Lorenzo Mancianti
No one on the planet can have missed the mass hysteria created over Bridgerton, Shonda Rhimes' Netflix show. If you’re one of the rare people who haven’t watched it, I urge you to do so, it's a sort of new Gossip Girl meets Jane Austen, offering visually compelling escapism set around a fictional high society in London’s Regency era, dancing at ostentatious balls and dances, sipping tea in empire-waist gowns, and reading gossip about the night before, written by an anonymous columnist named Lady Whistledown.
Now, there was a craving for jewellery during the Regency era, fuelled in part by the Prince Regent’s insatiable appetite for jewels and the endless whirl of social events. The spectacular costumes in Bridgerton include royalty-worthy gems, which have set the sales of early 19th century style jewellery spiking - due to my guests today. I’m delighted to welcome Ellen Mirojnick, the legendary Emmy-winning American costume designer, and Lorenzo Mancianti, jewellery and prop designer, who was in the wardrobe department knocking up tiaras by the dozen.
For more information, please see: www.carolwoolton.com
Follow Carol Woolton: @carolwoolton
Produced by Natasha Cowan @tashonfash
Music and editing by Tim Thornton @timwthornton
Creative direction by Scott Bentley @bentleycreative
Illustrations Jordi Labanda @jordilabanda
Read Carol Woolton in Vogue magazine – vogue.co.uk/fashion/jewellery
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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