Monique Pean Bracelets

Award-winning jewelry designer Monique Péan is known for drawing heavily on nature for her eye-catching and provocative rings, earrings, necklaces and other accessories, which feature exquisite arrangements of petite pavé conflict-free diamonds as often as they do fossilized dinosaur bones and meteorites.

While her minimalist designs might call to mind art movements such as Abstract Expressionism, Péan travels all over the world and finds inspiration in locales such as Antarctica as well as in Mayan architecture — her jewelry transcends time and space to remind us all to question our place and purpose in the universe.

Péan originally had a career in finance. While the Washington D.C. native was working at Goldman Sachs in Manhattan, she received the devastating news that her sister, Vanessa, was killed in a car accident. She began to reevaluate her life and her relationship with work, and her passion for the arts and travel was renewed. In 2006, she launched her eponymous jewelry line. 

Over time Péan has traveled to places like Easter Island and the Arctic Circle and has worked with indigenous communities to gather unconventional materials such as cosmic obsidian and fossilized walrus tusks to incorporate into her sculptural jewelry. While this has led to a deepening of her interest in the natural world, she’s also had firsthand experiences with how unearthing these materials can affect the planet and the people in places such as Alaska and the southwestern United States.

“The effects mining has on communities and the environmental toll made me want to give back and to use my work as an opportunity to have a conversation around the global water crisis and the people connected to it,” says Péan, who donates a percentage of her profits to charity: water.

High-profile enthusiasts of Péan’s jewelry include actresses Natalie Portman, Kerry Washington, Jennifer Lawrence and former First Lady Michelle Obama. Her work has been featured in publications such as Vogue and the New York Times.

On 1stDibs, find a collection of Monique Péan rings, earrings and necklaces.

Today, it would be tough to track down a jewelry lover who doesn’t have a stack of vintage and contemporary bangles and other bracelets ready to go for any occasion.

People have worn bangles and other bracelets for centuries. Examples can be found in the wide range of personal adornments favored by the Ancient Egyptians, some of whom wore bracelets and armlets made of gold and flecked with gemstones such as lapis and turquoise.

Fashion has evolved over the years, but the popularity of bangles has remained the same. Jewelry makers have created cuffs in all manner of styles, and no matter what your taste, you can find antique and vintage diamond bangles, ruby bangles, emerald bangles and more to suit you and to pair with any of your favorite ensembles. And although “bracelets” and “bangles” are often used interchangeably, there is a difference between the two.

Bangles are solid, one-piece bands that are always characterized by their rigid ring shape. Today, they’re made of metal, plastic, wood or other materials. Because this cuff is a solid piece, you have to slide it over your hand. Bracelets, however, are flexible pieces. Whether they’re charm bracelets, link bracelets, beaded bracelets or another variety, you open and close a bracelet at its ends, where it locks around your wrist with a clasp.

Bracelets and bangles suit most anyone, and there’s a style of bangle for every occasion, whether you’ve opted for an Art Deco bangle, a Victorian-era bangle or another kind. And their versatility doesn’t end there. Jewelry lovers know that when it comes to bangles (and other kinds of bracelets), you never have to choose just one. Just as you might wear a vintage tennis bracelet by itself or pair it with other thin bracelets, you can opt for a simple pared-down look with a single bangle or go big and stack your sculptural modern bangles to deepen their impact or double up your classic gold bangles and pair them with a T-shirt and jeans or a comfortable cotton day dress.

Browse an extensive collection of vintage and contemporary bangles and other bracelets on 1stDibs. Find extraordinary works by iconic jewelry houses such as Cartier, Tiffany & Co. and David Webb, or peruse the array of link bracelets, cuff bracelets and diamond bangles for innumerable accessorizing options.