GEMOLOGUE

Did you know that jewellery predates clothes? The oldest known piece is a set of 100, 000-year-old beads, made from Nassarius shells. Liza Urla advises us not to look at the eyes when meeting a new person, but instead to look at their jewellery. She describes it as the ultimate means of self-expression, essential to our identification as humans. "Jewellery is our armour," she says, "and precious stones our amulets". In this book, she journeys from continent to continent, chronicling the pieces that capture her imagination and her heart. Although many of the pictures are from the street, defining the wearer s style on the day they were taken, Urla has been lucky enough to access people s personal jewellery boxes. As she says, the best pieces are always in private collections. Urla s favourite finds are presented alongside her own jewellery styling, in collaboration with various designers from the jungles of Brazil, the beaches of Mexico, or the streets of London, NYC, Paris or Moscow.