Autore South Sea Pearls

Autore South Sea Pearls approached ALLOY to re-design the luxurious packaging for its highly sought-after individual pearl strands and unique pearl jewellery. Pearls are regarded by Autore as 'the diamonds of the sea' and ALLOY's brief was to create a casing that reflected this mantra but in a thoroughly contemporary way.

Copper was selected for its unique natural hues, providing a modern edge to the 'glory box' charm of the casing. A highly polished pearl shell was embedded in the de-bossed copper lid with its textured surface visible from the inside and designed to complement the unique gems cocooned in a soft, creamy suede.

As a special project Autore also requested a highly original and high quality casing design for the much-publicised Ian Thorpe Collection of unisex pearl neckpieces. Developed in consultation with Ian Thorpe, ALLOY developed a simple round, hinged brushed stainless steel design which, when opened out, is reminiscent of a pair of swimming goggles.

To lend a personalised touch, the stainless steel ‘box’ was finished-off with Ian Thorpe's rambling signature engraved on the lid. In a move to give the traditionally staid pearl a contemporary shake up, just like the neck pieces from the collection, the container was then packaged in a silver-grey draw-string Lycra bag - any reference to Thorpe's famous swimming costume was purely deliberate!