David Yurman Flex
2010s American Modern Link Necklaces
Diamond, White Diamond, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
21st Century and Contemporary North American Modern Cuff Bracelets
Diamond, 14k Gold, White Gold, Yellow Gold
People Also Browsed
21st Century and Contemporary Art Nouveau Chain Necklaces
Diamond, 14k Gold
2010s Choker Necklaces
Diamond, White Diamond, Platinum
Antique Late 19th Century Russian Russian Empire Pendant Necklaces
Gold Plate, Silver, Enamel, Gilt Metal
Early 20th Century Russian Russian Empire Pendant Necklaces
Pearl, Natural Pearl, Gold Plate, Silver, Enamel, Gilt Metal
20th Century French Modern Chain Necklaces
Coral, Yellow Gold
Vintage 1980s French Modernist Link Bracelets
Gold, 18k Gold
2010s American Modern Chain Necklaces
Gold, 14k Gold, Yellow Gold
21st Century and Contemporary Pendant Necklaces
18k Gold, Sterling Silver
Antique Late 19th Century Russian Russian Empire Pendant Necklaces
Gold Plate, Silver, Enamel, Gilt Metal
Antique Late 19th Century Russian Russian Empire Pendant Necklaces
Gold Plate, Silver, Enamel, Gilt Metal
1990s American Modern Pendant Necklaces
21st Century and Contemporary American Contemporary Link Bracelets
18k Gold, Yellow Gold
1990s American Modern Pendant Necklaces
Early 20th Century Russian Russian Empire Pendant Necklaces
Crystal, Gold Plate, Silver, Enamel, Gilt Metal
1990s American Modern Link Necklaces
Diamond, Yellow Gold, 14k Gold
1980s French Clutches
David Yurman for sale on 1stDibs
Perhaps the ultimate artistic couple, sculptor David Yurman (b. 1942) and his wife, painter Sybil Kleinrock (b. 1942), couldn’t have imagined they’d build an internationally renowned fine jewelry empire when they met in 1969 at a sculpture studio in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village.
Eleven years later, in 1980, the duo established the David Yurman brand and it boomed almost instantly, a by-product of the pair’s love for and commitment to making art. (They’ve been known to call their business as well as their relationship “one big art project.”) In fact, Yurman’s most recognizable piece, the Cable bracelet, was inspired by his background in metalworking and direct welding, skills he learned when he was just a teenager. It is a marvelously modern accessory rooted in everything from jewelry motifs of ancient Syria to the natural formations of tree branches that would yield the Cable ring, earrings and other items.
When Long Island, New York–born Yurman was in high school, he spent a summer visiting his sister in Provincetown, Massachusetts, where he met Cuban sculptor Ernesto González, who taught him how to heat and fuse metals. After that fateful summer, Yurman experimented feverishly with bronze sculpture and, eventually, minimalist jewelry design.
Yurman studied briefly at New York University, opting to drop out after a year to hitchhike across the United States, ending up in an artist colony on California’s Big Sur coastline. The bustling artists’ scene in New York during the 1960s eventually drew him back to the East Coast. There, he trained under Cubist sculptor Jacques Lipchitz, and, by 1969, he was a foreman in sculptor Hans Van de Bovenkamp’s Greenwich Village studio. It was in the studio that he met Kleinrock.
Kleinrock and Yurman began a romantic relationship, and he designed her a sculptural welded bronze necklace to wear to an art gallery opening. The gallery owner was so enchanted by the design — Yurman called it the Dante — that she wanted to buy it on the spot. Yurman refused because he considered the gift too personal, but his partner left it with the dealer. Within hours, four necklaces were sold and a brand was born.
A year after the two married in 1979 — the ceremony included simple gold rings Yurman had soldered from gold in his workshop — they officially launched David Yurman. Three years later, one of his most popular designs, the Cable bracelet, hit the market.
Today, David Yurman engagement rings, bracelets, rings, necklaces and earrings are widely treasured, distinctive works of American jewelry design.
A Close Look at modern Jewelry
Rooted in centuries of history of adornment dating back to the ancient world, modern jewelry reimagines traditional techniques, forms and materials for expressive new pieces. As opposed to contemporary jewelry, which responds to the moment in which it was created, modern jewelry often describes designs from the 20th to 21st centuries that reflect movements and trends in visual culture.
Modern jewelry emerged from the 19th-century shift away from jewelry indicating rank or social status. The Industrial Revolution allowed machine-made jewelry using electric gold plating, metal alloys and imitation stones, making beautiful jewelry widely accessible. Although mass production deemphasized the materials of the jewelry, the vision of the designer remained important, something that would be furthered in the 1960s with what’s known as the “critique of preciousness.”
A design fair called the “Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes” brought global attention to the Art Deco style in 1925 and gathered a mix of jewelry artists alongside master jewelers like Van Cleef & Arpels, Mauboussin and Boucheron. Art Deco designs from Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels unconventionally mixed gemstones like placing rock crystals next to diamonds while borrowing motifs from eclectic sources including Asian lacquer and Persian carpets. Among Cartier’s foremost design preoccupations at the time were high-contrast color combinations and crisp, geometric forms and patterns. In the early 20th century, modernist jewelers like Margaret De Patta and artists such as Alexander Calder — who is better known for his kinetic sculptures than his provocative jewelry — explored sculptural metalwork in which geometric shapes and lines were preferred over elaborate ornamentation.
Many of the innovations in modern jewelry were propelled by women designers such as Wendy Ramshaw, who used paper to craft her accessories in the 1960s. During the 1970s, Elsa Peretti created day-to-night pieces for Tiffany & Co. while designers like Lea Stein experimented with layering plastic, a material that had been employed in jewelry since the mid-19th century and had expanded into Bakelite, acrylics and other unique materials.
Find a collection of modern watches, bracelets, engagement rings, necklaces, earrings and other jewelry on 1stDibs.