5 Brazilian Jewelry Designers You Need to Know

There’s something about the sights and sounds of Brazil—from the lush jungles of the Amazon to the chic cities and incredible nightlife to the abundance of precious gemstones including Paraíba tourmaline and diamonds—that inspires the country’s jewelry designers to craft absolutely stunning pieces. We’ve rounded up our favorite Brazilian jewelry designers who should be on your radar and in your jewelry wardrobe, stat. 

Add diamonds from these Brazilian jewelry designers to your collection.

1. Fernando Jorge

Fernando Jorge’s jewelry features sensuous curves inspired by nature and a cerebral approach to design. He was born in Brazil, then moved to London where he earned a Master’s degree from Central Saint Martins in jewelry design. Ever since launching his eponymous brand in 2010, he has become a darling of the jewelry industry. Jorge picks an overarching theme for each collection and interprets them in an abstract, architectural way. His most recent collection, Flame, was inspired by the power of fire. He transformed this potentially destructive force into stunning pieces of jewelry in which pear cut diamonds flicker like flames. A standout piece from the collection is the stunning high jewelry Flare bracelet, which happens to be the most expensive piece of jewelry he has ever designed. 

“The idea that natural diamonds have been forged billions of years ago, deep inside our planet, and they will outlive us and carry our memories into the future, is very romantic,” Jorge says. “This is why natural diamonds have incomparable significance to me. I am also fascinated by its properties: diamonds are extremely pure, incredibly hard, and virtually indestructible. When it comes to its use in jewelry, they are the most versatile gemstone, yet have a high visual impact.”

2. Silvia Furmanovich

Silvia Furmanovich is one of the beloved Brazilian jewelry designers deeply inspired by the natural beauty of Brazil. Her pieces frequently feature unusual materials for jewelry, including shells, real flowers encased in resin, wood and bamboo. Of course, she uses colored gemstones, beautiful natural diamonds and precious metals, too. She believes that this combination of materials elevates the more humble elements into art. The Amazonia Bamboo collection is a perfect example. She weaves bamboo into intricate shapes, trimming pieces with diamonds and other precious stones. But, she is perhaps best known for her stunning wood marquetry. She inlays tiny pieces of different colored wood together to form a design or motif, which is frequently inspired by nature. These butterfly earrings feature wood marquetry wings decorated with diamonds and a golden body. 

“I love using natural diamonds,” Furmanovich says. “There is something powerful about wearing natural materials that originated in the earth. I believe jewelry should give a grounding feeling to clients, a kind of confidence.” 

3. Ara Vartanian

Growing up, designer Ara Vartanian was surrounded by precious gemstones, as his father was a diamond dealer in Brazil. After a stint in New York working in the finance industry, Vartanian returned home to Brazil to join the family business and traveled the world with his father to source exceptional stones. He then launched his eponymous brand and quickly made a name for himself thanks to his architectural pieces that feature inverted diamonds—his signature—as well as unique, open designs and two-finger rings. In addition to white diamonds, Vartanian frequently works with black and brown diamonds, which give some of his pieces a rock-and-roll vibe that has become very popular with men. 

“I understood that there was an intrinsic value across the surface of a diamond, I started to reverse the diamond, and today the inverted diamond is a hallmark of my creations… I always thought stones were so beautiful from the back and this sparked a curiosity in me, as most people don’t look at stones from the back,” explains Vartanian. “I decided to start my own company as I wanted to explore the back of stones further and champion inverted diamonds, which I love. They have a pointy, dangerous tip and a sense of three-dimensionality which I find so fascinating and will continue to use in my work.”

4. Graziela

From a young age, Graziela Kaufman was fascinated by gemstones. Kaufman says her backyard was “a gemological treasure” and as a child, she visited some of Brazil’s many mining towns to learn more. It’s not surprising that she became a jewelry designer and earned certificates from the GIA in Colored Gems, Diamonds and Jewelry Making. For her eponymous collection, Graziela, she creates a host of designs inspired by geometric patterns, nature and the stars above. She has pieces with significant diamonds and also has a unique setting technique that emulates the look of larger diamonds by setting smaller diamonds in the shape of a larger stone. All of the sparkle, for a more affordable price. We love her floating diamond necklaces and the Baguette collection, which is all about—what else?—baguette cut stones. Kaufman is also a passionate advocate for animals and designed a collection of animal-inspired pieces, Pawsitivity. These pieces feature charming animal motifs frequently outlined in diamonds, plus 30% of the sales from the Pawsitivity collection are donated to animal charities. 

“A natural diamond is the most precious and enduring of all gemstones, I love that no two diamonds are alike… that they all have their own unique characteristics just like humans. For a designer, to work with a gemstone that was formed between one and three billion years ago and that has an inner fire, beauty and history is really a gift,” Kaufman says. “The versatility of how I’m able to create pieces with diamonds, mix colored stones with diamonds, or create that ring that is surrounded by so many emotions and that a special someone will wear every day of their lives is what makes me love natural diamonds. There is nothing else like it!” 

5. Hueb

Like many Brazilian jewelry designers, Hueb’s designers are deeply inspired by their homeland. Nature, sensuality and artisans’ creativity are themes they revisit in collections, creating pieces that are “firmly rooted in the ‘spirit of Brazil’; easygoing, elegant and exotic, thrown together with an endearing element of wild abandon,” says, Marjan Algouneh, Hueb’s Creative Director. Its pieces are sometimes more literal, as in the Bahia collection, which features flowers and tropical foliage, or more abstract, like the Estelar collection, which uses diamonds to evoke the stars above. Its Luminus collection is absolutely brilliant, channeling fireworks and dancing the samba under flashing lights. 

“Anything natural from Mother Earth is precious to me,” says Algouneh. “Natural diamonds represent earth and all that’s pure and untouched in it. They are authentic and honest as much as the symbols of the kind of love they have come to celebrate. My favorite way to set natural diamonds is the signature ‘triangular’ setting of Hueb, which allows light to hit every facet of the diamond, maximizing its natural brilliance, and setting it on fire.”