Gurhan High Karat Gold Jewels Illuminate Couture Show With A Rare Glow

Forbes

05-06-2025

New York-based designer Gurhan is exhibiting hi latest limited edition and one-off high karat gold ... More jewels at the Couture show in Las Vegas June 4 - June 8.
Specializing in hand-wrought, 24-karat, 22-karat gold and sterling silver jewels ranging from a granulated sterling silver cross pendant necklace priced at $245.00 to hand-hammered 24-karat gold beaded men's bracelets to a one-of-a-kind Paraiba tourmaline necklace that retails for approximately $200,000, Turkish-born, New York-based high luxury jewelry designer Gurhan Orhan creates distinctive jewels in an epic array of styles and price ranges. Yet his jewelry's main marks of distinction reside in their embodiment of traditional artisanal techniques and aesthetic tendencies that originated in the Byzantine empire (roughly from 330 AD to 1453 AD), as well as antique elements sourced from around the world.
In addition to being a designer, Gurhan cuts the turquoise, boulder opals and other gemstones that ... More he uses in his various collections.
While Gurhan's Antiquities collection pieces are set with everything from ancient Roman micro-mosaics and carnelian intaglios to 16th century Japanese Satsuma porcelains buttons of rare beauty, his High Jewelry, Gold Classic, 25th anniversary, Curated and Men's collections are alive with Gurhan's love of gold, precious gemstones and the Old World mastery of his Istanbul artisans, which he has carefully trained over the years. Gurhan, who is exhibiting his many collections at the Couture Show in Las Vegas June 4 - June 8, granted a Zoom interview to this writer to reflect on his career, which began in Turkey and brought him to New York City 26 years ago.
Gurhan's radiant New York City flagship boutique is located on Franklin Street in Soho.
While Gurhan's boutique at 160 Franklin Street in New York's Soho district has been gleaming and going strong for eleven years, he continues to expand his creative horizons. After training as a lapidary, Gurhan is now cutting turquoise, boulder opal and other gems that are set in his jewels. 'A collection with the #8 mine turquoise that I cut will be presented at Couture,' Gurhan noted, along with a tourmaline collection, a sapphire collection, plus diamonds and gold collections. 'At Couture, we are also exhibiting pieces such as a bracelet that can be added to a necklace for interchangeable looks,' he confided. "Versatility is an important advantage in a jewel as many customers highly value this aspect of a design."
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Ancient scarabs, Roman micro-mosaics, intaglios and bronze elements from antiquity set in high karat ... More gold make this Gurhan Antiquities bracelet a treasure,
When it comes to describing the formative influences on his aesthetic, 'Byzantium is my starting point,' Gurhan explained, 'as the Byzantine empire had such a strong love of gold, which I completely identify with. In Byzantine art and culture," he related, 'gold symbolized divine light, transcendence, and spiritual purity. Its presence in religious objects, artwork and jewelry, made gold a symbol of strength, profound beauty, purity, faith, wealth and power. During the Byzantine era, the Roman Empire expanded East, and centered on Constantinople, which is now called Istanbul,' he continued. 'The Roman influence on Constantinople explains why much Byzantine jewelry resembles jewels of Roman antiquity, and while the Byzantine Empire's artistic and cultural influence spread far and wide, its use of gold in jewelry, in royal objects and in fine art made a huge impact on other world cultures.'
Like a secret garden, Gurhan's opal and diamond ring set in high karat gold is alive with constantly ... More changing colors and light.
Gurhan's jewelry differs from many other contemporary jewelers in that it is made with hand-wrought, labor-intensive techniques like granulation, filigree, and inlay, showcasing his admiration for Byzantine traditions of metalworking and adornment. In Gurhan's estimation, gold is more than a precious, beautiful and rare jewelry material. For him, it is a cosmically powerful substance with proven scientific properties. 'It's amazing that gold came to this planet as a result of meteorite bombardments," Gurhan mused. "It flew through outer space and landed like a gift deep inside the earth. Gold is a kind of transmitter that moves energy into your body, and it's also the best conductor of electricity with maximum efficiency," he claimed.
Jewelry designer Gurhan Orhan wears high karat gold rings and an earring of his own design.
In addition, 'Pure gold is hyper-precious and because it is almost 40 percent heavier than 18-karat gold, it feels fantastic on the body,' he said with a smile. Along with his respect for the energetic properties of gold, Gurhan also reveres whatever it is that animates gemstones. 'Energies live inside gemstones, definitely,' he said. 'In the case of pearls, these materials were made by a living thing, an oyster. Think about that,' he said with a laugh, while holding up to the camera a 40.25 inch strand of baroque freshwater pearls that featured a 22K gold lobster clasp. One of the standouts of Gurhan's Oyster collection, the necklace is one of his many utterly unique organic statement pieces.
Gurhan's gift for high luxury jewelry design is fortified by his love of gold plus the colors, ... More textures and energies inherent in gemstones and organic gems, such as pearls,
In order to compensate for gold's recent record high prices, Gurhan noted that, 'We have been making lots of new gold chains in different sizes that show a lot of gold yet are lighter in weight.' On the subject of gold's current price, Gurhan commented that, 'Considering that there is such a finite amount of gold, I believe that is priced rather low.' What if gold continues to rise even higher in price? 'The higher in value the raw material of your products, the better it is for your business,' he theorized. What's more, given that hundreds of Gurhan's online New York boutique clients are already avid members of his loyalty program, 'I remain optimistic, for my customers and my various retail partner who I will see at Couture all love gold as much as I do.'
Gurhan utilizes the power of cabochon-cut colored gemstones offset by twinkling diamonds to create ... More visually impactful jewels.