During our quick tour around the Tucson Gem Show last week, we made sure to stop at Ara Collection to admire their work. This was a designer we discovered last year at the same show and have thought fondly of since.
Run by two brothers, Cuneyt and Ali Akdolu, this small, Turkish studio originally caught our eye for their high quality of gold. Their pieces are made exclusively with 24K, a practice informed by their family’s heritage of goldsmithing in Bodrum.
The brothers use the tone in the same way a painter might use precious yellow or white on a blackened canvas: for precise strikes of texture and contrast. The deep, yellow tone of this gold ignites the internal fire of sapphires and black diamonds alike.
Ara Collection’s pieces are extremely sophisticated, prizing wearability and elegance over big stones or trendy compositions. We’ve focused on bringing in their necklaces, which can be worn alone or layered. It wouldn’t be Tucson without us acquiring a bit of turquoise too… find a bit of dreamy Sleeping Beauty nestled among the offering.
