“I don’t like to work with anything that is too common,” reflects Martin Katz. “I want to work with the finest specimens, even when I am working with tsavorite garnet or tourmaline or other stones some people consider ‘semi-precious.’ Some people misinterpret high price as high quality.”
Katz got his start as a dealer, handling the finest examples of antique and vintage jewelry. As first-class antiques became more and more scarce, he began designing his own original pieces in the spirit of the classics, developing a design aesthetic that is strongly influenced by the past—Victorian, Edwardian and Art Deco—without imitating it.
“It’s not contemporary in the sense that most people think of it,” explains Katz’s associate, Jay Carlile. “It doesn’t have the modernist sensibility. There’s a transparency to Martin’s designs; his jewelry doesn’t have the bulk of a lot of modern jewelry.”
Lightness is a defining characteristic of much of Martin Katz’s jewelry: superb stones in finely wrought, open settings of platinum or white gold, sprinkled with micro-pavé diamonds, allowing the central stones to be displayed without distraction. Katz describes it as “new jewelry with an old soul.”
Katz himself is responsible for all of his company’s designs. He begins with a drawing. “I do a basic sketch in pencil,” he explains of his process. “I have some artists who work with me to translate my intentions.” Each one-of-a-kind design is fabricated in Europe by artisans working in the time-honored techniques of the classic jewelry makers.
The results are breathtaking: an eight-carat Burmese ruby framed by vintage, rose-cut diamonds with a surprise on the reverse: a field of pavé rubies set in blackened gold, giving the piece a greater depth and gravitas. A straight-line bracelet of marquise and Asscher-cut diamonds, each D-colored and internally flawless, is stunning in its simplicity of design, fire and flash.
There is a purity of purpose to Martin Katz’s work; he doesn’t create sunglasses or perfumes or handbags like many other renowned jewelry companies. He focuses his energy and creativity solely on fine jewelry, objects of art to adorn beautiful women. “Anytime I am holding a beautiful gem,” he says, “it becomes my favorite.”
