John Brevard 18k

Prolific jewelry designer John Brevard said it was a near-fatal childhood illness that led him to question the nature of human existence and its connection with the universe. Art and design would come to serve as an outlet for his self-expression, and Brevard’s visually engaging, cerebral and environmentally sustainable statement pieces embody the essence of 21st-century modernism.

Born in 1982 in Miami, Florida, Brevard had an intrinsic interest in nature and the arts as a child. However, at age 14, he contracted encephalitis and meningitis, leaving him comatose for several weeks. His recovery left him with a deep-seated desire to explore broad philosophical questions about human existence.

“There’s nothing more inspiring than the universe,” Brevard told Haute Living in 2014. “I’m influenced by realms of existence beyond our five physical senses ... alternate dimensions beyond our normal waking state consciousness.”

The experience, Brevard claimed, “served as the catalyst for his design philosophy and work ethic,” and he pursued a career in the arts, graduating with degrees in architecture and design.

In 2007, Brevard established his namesake brand. Its offerings included jewelry, accessories, handbags, shoes, furniture, art and more. He opened his first pop-up showroom in 2010 in Wynwood — an arts and culture district in Miami — where he displayed his visual art, which was listed in the Miami New Times’ “Best of Miami.”

Brevard launched his first luxury jewelry line in 2012 with fashion rings, pendant necklaces and cuff bracelets made of gold and silver, and embellished with precious stones. He opened his first permanent atelier and appointment-only showroom in Coral Gables the following year.

In 2015, Brevard opened his first flagship store in New York City and gained membership to the Council of Fashion Designers of America. He also launched Thoscene — a unique customization software that uses an astrological algorithm to create jewelry and accessories based on the time, date and location of a person’s birth.

Today, Brevard’s jewelry and other works can be found in galleries and retailers worldwide and have been featured in magazines such as Vogue, Forbes and Vanity Fair.

On 1stDibs, discover a range of John Brevard rings, necklaces, bracelets and more.

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.