Blur Leaf Necklace

With his exquisite contemporary and Byzantine-style pieces featuring details so fine that a magnifying glass is required to see them, it’s not surprising Alex Soldier is one of the most innovative jewelry designers of the 21st century.

Born Alexander Soldatov in the Russian city of Perm, nestled in the Ural Mountains, Soldier exhibited a childhood talent for woodcraft, painting miniatures and creating sculptures. However, he regarded his artistic interests as nothing more than a hobby and obtained a master’s degree in computer engineering. 

Although he was working as a computer engineer, Soldier’s wife Galina recognized his innate talent for jewelry design and encouraged him to consider a career as a jeweler. In 1981, Galina’s persistence paid off, and Soldier left computer engineering to work as an intern at the most prominent jewelry manufacturing company in the Ural region. His aptitude for artisanal workmanship earned him a promotion as the company’s chief designer in less than a year.

Soldier’s jewelry designs won numerous awards at trade shows throughout Eastern Europe, and his works soon caught the attention of a U.S.-based jewelry manufacturer. In 1991, Soldier moved with his family to the United States, where he worked briefly for the company before striking out on his own. 

Soldier is widely known for his masterful metalwork. With his passion for precision and alluring form, he uses a microscope to design his jewelry — he handcrafts fine details and textures with stainless steel instruments on such pieces as drop earrings, cocktail rings and pendant necklaces made with 18-karat gold, platinum and precious gemstones. Today, in the firm’s New York City workshop, the designer and his small staff create elegant pieces such as the gemstone-encrusted Snail ring and the Sunflower series, which is inspired by Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings.  

Soldier’s fine jewelry craftsmanship has earned international accolades. He won the Platinum Passion Award in 1998 from Platinum Guild International and a Spectrum honor from the American Gem Trade Association in 2002. Since 2009, he has created the prize statuette for the Princess Grace Award and the Prince Rainier III Award. Celebrities such as Scarlett Johansson, Gwyneth Paltrow and Elizabeth Hurley have worn Alex Soldier jewelry over the years.

On 1stDibs, find a range of Alex Soldier earrings, rings and necklaces.

Whether you’re layering multiple jewelry pieces or opting for a single strand, vintage pendant necklaces are versatile accessories that can elevate your casual wear as easily as they can add a creative flourish to your formal attire.

The earliest jewelry was less about accessorizing than it was about wearers arming themselves with amulets. In Ancient Egypt, some amulets featured a loop so that they could be strung around one’s neck. While rubies have long been one of the few gemstones that can give diamonds a run for their money, members of some ancient civilizations valued the stones from the get-go, donning ruby pendants as well as other stones with the belief that these adornments would bring protection, healing powers or strength. Today, we still wear our charm bracelets and charm pendants around our necks for good luck.

Later, pendant necklaces, like most fine jewelry, were worn strictly by royalty or the upper class and conferred wealth and prestige. This changed over time, thankfully, as wearing jewelry became more widespread, a democratized means of personal expression.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, pendant necklaces evolved from their status as spiritual amulets, but the jewels still carried deep personal significance. Victorian pendants, in particular, were part of the “mourning jewelry” tradition. Wearers would embed their pendants with locks of hair from a deceased loved one as a way of grieving in the wake of a loss. In the case of cameo jewelry, some pendants were even decorated with miniature hand-carved portraits in a detailed raised relief. Today, portraiture is still a characteristic of many of the hand-carved pendant necklaces offered by Italian jewelry house Scala Gioielli.

Luxury fine jewelry brands such as Cartier, BVLGARI and David Yurman offer their own unique interpretations of the cherished accessory, embellishing platinum or gold pendant necklaces with diamonds, sapphires and other stones.

On 1stDibs, find an extraordinary range of vintage pendant necklaces and other necklaces today.