OHLALA had the opportunity to interview the mastermind behind the quintessential jewellery brand Garrard, Sara Prentice, Chief Creative Officer, for an in-depth talk about her career and brand vision.
OHLALA – Can you tell us how the jewellery universe entered your life?
Sara Prentice – I’ve always known I wanted to work in a creative field, but I wasn’t sure exactly which direction to take. I initially considered fashion design, but during an open day at my local college, I got lost on my way to the fashion department. A gentleman noticed my struggle and offered help. He saw I was carrying my portfolio and asked if I had ever thought about jewellery design. He promised to show me the way if I returned afterward to show him my portfolio. I kept my promise, and that moment marked the beginning of my journey into jewellery design. In my final year of studying jewellery design and making, Cartier approached my college and asked if they could recommend a couple of candidates to work with the company. I was selected for the role. I spent 12 years with Cartier, learning invaluable skills. From there, I moved to Graff for eight years and then to Fabergé before joining Garrard. It’s been 12 years with Garrard now, and I feel deeply connected to the brand – it’s in my blood.
OHLALA – What makes Garrard, Garrard?
Sara – We’ve got the heritage, the craftsmanship and the design. The combination of these three pillars is what makes a Garrard piece.
OHLALA – What part of working with or on a new collection do you like most? Where do you find inspiration?
Sara – The bit I love most is seeing the design come into realisation. We do a lot of product development along the way and when we see the final piece, it’s a wow moment. However, I enjoy the whole process from the very beginning to the end. My team and I always go offsite when we start a new collection. We move away from the office and I bring big mood boards. But by then, we’ve done our research and already know what the theme will be. We are never short of ideas because we have almost 300 years’ worth of inspiration. With Fanfare, for example, we went back to our very beginning, in 1735. During this year, we had our very first store, which was located in the theatre district in London. At the time, there were masquerade balls after the opera and Garrard used to supply all the silverware. From there, we got our inspiration. What happens at a masquerade ball? You have these beautiful fans. We then looked into their shape, and that’s how Fanfare was created. There are many different sentiments about what we do, but it’s all related to our history.
OHLALA – You also revisit collections. Can you tell us more about the Wings line?
Sara – I love that you brought this one up. The Wings is the only collection I kept when I joined in 2012. It was first designed in 2003. But when I joined in 2012, I had to look at everything. It was like, what do I want to keep? Wings I absolutely had to keep. It has a great design and resonates well with our customers, particularly in the Middle East. The challenge was how to move it forward. The original one was all pavé diamonds. I started looking at it, and there has been a lot of evolution in the Wings. We have them in different colours and ombre. We’ve recently done Wings Rising, a more contemporary version of the design with movement and dimension added to it. I think what is quite unique about my team and me is that we all have a background in jewellery manufacturing. So, it’s not just about the design, not just a two-dimensional design on a piece of paper.
OHLALA – What, in your opinion, gives people a deep appreciation for jewels? What do you think causes this fascination?
Sara – I think it gives them confidence. But first and foremost, they’ve got to love the piece. Jewellery, for me, is a purchase of passion. Someone wouldn’t come in and say, oh, I want something. It tends to be that they see something and purchase it because they love it. It’s about sentiment. When my team and I are designing a piece of jewellery, particularly a collection, we want to talk to as many people as we can. It’s challenging, but I want someone to look at a collection and think, you know what? That talks to me. And I believe it is essential for me and my team that the jewellery is worn. It shouldn’t be something you like and keep inside a safe. Our pieces have an outstanding value that grows. But, for me, you’ve got to wear it. Wear it and love it.
OHLALA – Do you have a favourite collection?
Sara – Every collection I do is my favourite. There are some things that I personally, perhaps, wouldn’t choose, like a particular colour. But I think in terms of what I work with, I love everything. I want people to look at our pieces and have an understanding that they are Garrard. When we’re designing, we’re not frivolous with our designs. Everything has to have a purpose and a certain aesthetic. I love balance. When we did the Fanfare line and offset it, I was not convinced at the beginning, but then we worked with the curves and shape, and despite being offset, it is balanced.
OHLALA – What are the brand’s highlights for 2025?
Sara – Our new collection, Lotus. That is a highlight, along with the fact that we are turning 290 years old. Lotus is inspired by a piece called the Lotus Tiara, made for Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, in the early 1900s. There is an image from the 1920s of her wearing it as a bandeau. It was a little bit different, and it is such an iconic, beautiful picture that made us decide to use Lotus as our inspiration. When I started to look back at our collections and thought about what made them iconic, I noticed it was all about the silhouette. You see a wing and a fan. The forms are very recognisable; people understand what they are. So, we worked with something that people would understand immediately. The Lotus pieces have a very recognisable shape. We played around with different settings we hadn’t done before in a collection. On Wings, we used a lot of calibre cut stones. In Fanfare, we used a thread and grain setting. For Lotus, I wanted to use a castle setting, which has very minimal metal – it’s all about the stones with a beautiful ombre colour that goes from dark shades to light tones.
For more information, please call Garrard Boutique at Villaggio Mall on
4444 0817.
@garrard
@alibinali_luxury