OCTAVE is a one-bench jewellery house in Antwerp: art deco pieces made to order by one goldsmith.
The bench works in recycled 18k gold and platinum 950, set with natural or lab-grown stones. Everything is made to order: a pendant drawn around a date, a ring built up in steps like the tower it is named for, a band cut fresh from the sketch. A commission opens with a conversation and closes with a hallmark.
René Lalique's Perruches necklace, about 1929, rock crystal on black silk. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The name is the octave: the eight steps a scale climbs to arrive home.
One ring, four ways to make it
The Ziggurat is drawn here in the house metals and stones. Choose a pairing and the page follows: the drawing recolours, and the accent of the whole site changes with it.
First, the conversation.
You bring the idea, an heirloom stone or a date.
Then, sketches and a quote.
Drawings and a fixed price within two weeks.
Then, the bench.
Wax, cast, set: four to six weeks of making.
Last, the hallmark.
Assayed in Antwerp, collected or delivered insured.
Pendant watch
Van Cleef and Arpels
Platinum and diamonds in a deco case, the kind of piece a small bench can still make today.
The 1925 Exposition
Paris, period postcard
The exhibition that gave the style its name, seen from above with the Eiffel Tower beyond.
Perruches necklace
René Lalique, about 1929
Rock crystal parakeets strung on black silk, kept today in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Asymmetrical bracelet
Oscar Heyman and Bros
Platinum and diamonds, cut and set by hand in the deco decades, photographed in a museum case.
Questions
How long does a commission take?
Four to six weeks of making once the sketches are approved. The conversation and the quote come first.
Which metals do you work in?
Recycled 18k gold and platinum 950, worked by hand at the one bench.
Natural or lab-grown stones?
Both, on request. The difference is talked through at the first conversation.
What if a ring does not fit?
Sizing is included within one year of collection.
Do you ship?
Insured shipping worldwide, or collection at the workshop in Antwerp.
How do I care for a piece?
Every piece leaves with a care card, and repairs are done at the same bench that made it.