Paloma眼中的中国气场

作为一名设计师，paloma Sanchez曾经供职于Carrera y Carrera、Hublot、 Cuervo & Sobrinos,、Patek Philippe这些国际知名的时尚奢侈品牌。也因为这些工作经验，让她和北京结缘，并以此为发源地，创立了以自己名字命名的珠宝品牌。对于一名西方设计师和她的品牌来说，从中国发源显然在这个行业是很罕见的。

Paloma告诉《私人飞机》，不仅是因为她刚好身处北京的时机，更是因为她认为“所有世上发生和变化的事都在这里，远比在纽约或伦敦要多得多。”而对于一位外国人士来说，在中国创立自己的品牌，与当地机构的往来便比一般人复杂得多。双方的沟通和理解是一个很漫长的过程。Paloma排除万难的耐心等待也终于让这段佳缘得以促成，正如她对本刊表述的那样：“当你很想要做成一件事的时候，困难便变得微乎其微了。”

作为一名女性，Paloma Sanchez在工作中表现出了异常坚韧的一面。身为设计师的同时，Paloma也是一位出色的宝石鉴定家，毕业于素有“宝石界的哈佛”美称的美国宝石学院（GIA）。她天生对宝石的热情让她更热衷于到世界各地的矿地去亲自发掘挑选宝石。Paloma通过了解当地的地质和环境来更深入了解宝石本身所具有的特质和气场，不单是观察宝石本身，这种方式更像是把宝石当作一个生命在对待。在发掘宝石的过程中，Paloma不曾因恶劣的环境退却过，走遍了哥伦比亚、越南、泰国、摩洛哥、马达加斯加等多个区域的矿地。在涉入矿地的过程中，Palomo会有身体强壮的伙伴陪同，但他们同样面临各种险境，有时甚至要和当地的黑社会打交道。宝石交易方面也不易，矿地通常都有其主人或隶属当地政府，必须在和对方有充分地交涉下，Paloma才能被同意进入矿区，并以双方都满意的价钱获得宝石。Paloma同时向本刊透露，她在GIA学习期间的同学现在很多都是宝石商或珠宝商，这也是一条她获得理想宝石的好途径。

谈到珠宝作品的设计风格和灵感来源，Palomo Sanchez简单地总结道：“可以说宝石本身就是我设计的灵感源泉。”在Paloma的个人理念中，宝石本身就是一种艺术。天然的宝石自身在形成的过程中已经构成了各种形状，这些形状常让她忍不住感叹大自然的鬼斧神工。Paloma在一些作品的设计中，几乎保持了宝石原石的初始样貌，这些作品被许多宝石爱好者追捧，因为当下很难买到几乎没有受到损害的宝石原石。

对于很多中国客户来说，未经切割的宝石原石除了天然的艺术形状，更重要的是宝石本身具有的气场未被破坏。客户能很好地欣赏自己的作品，对于设计师Paloma本身来说也是件相当令人欣慰的事。而中国客户的表现也可说是当初Paloma选择北京为品牌发源地明智之举的最好证明。Paloma表示西方顾客也许对将宝石原石的形状保留这一新颖的设计觉得很特别，但中国客户更能真正地欣赏除设计以外宝石本身的艺术感，这些宝石带给他们能量，并且懂得这些独一无二的宝石的珍贵性。Paloma的客户群大多是中国内地在大公司任职的高管女性，有着很好的经济背景。她们过去会买一些国际知名的奢侈品牌的珠宝，现在她们更倾向于买Paloma的作品以满足自己个性化的独特品味，宝石的财富也是其附加值之一。

目前Paloma Sanchez珠宝品牌在北京设有店面，身兼设计师和品牌创始人的Paloma正在上海寻觅合适的店面。Paloma日前受一位英国籍客户的邀请参加9月的伦敦时装周，她还曾被Neimain Marcus寻求合作。Paloma希望通过这些机会让自己的品牌和作品被更多人认识。

It is rare for a jewelry brand to be originated from China, especially for an established designer like Paloma Sanchez, who had worked for Carrera y Carrera, Hublot, Cuervo & Sobrinos, and Patek Philippe. Sanchez discovered Beijing and was enthralled enough that she decided to build up her own jewelry business here.

“Everything that’s moving and is going on now is happening here, much more than in London or New York,” enthused Paloma to U-Jet. Naturally, for a foreigner to build up a brand in China, it is sometimes challenging to deal with local entities, and there are many difficulties with communications. But Paloma was not the one to be deterred, “If you really want to do something, difficulties are not so big,” said she.

She is a formidable woman at work. Apart from being a designer, she is also a brilliant gemologist, graduating from GIA of the U.S., the Harvard in the world of gems. Born with a passion for gems, she travels to mines all of the world to select gems. By being in the field, she gets to know the local geology and environment and she has a deeper understanding of the unique characteristics of gems. In a way, she sees gems as living creatures. Paloma never refrains from hard terrains, having been to Columbia, Vietnam, Thailand, Monaco, Madagascar and other mining regions. She was accompanied by strongly-built partners, who also could be putting themselves in harm’s way. Occasionally they had to deal with mafias. Gem transactions are never easy. Mines have proprietors or are owned by local governments. Paloma needs to get their permission to enter into the mines an negotiate prices. Paloma revealed to U-Jet that a lot of her classmates at GIA are now gem or jewelry dealers, making it convenient for her to get preferred gems.

“It’s the precious stones that really inspire my designs,” said Paloma Sanchez. Gems are pieces of art in Paloma’s view. Natural gems come with shapes and patterns, which we humans can only marvel at. In some of her works, Paloma took pains to retain the original look of the gems, a design philosophy warmly received by her fans. It is so hard to acquire undamaged gems nowadays.

Chinese buyers are particularly drawn to the character of uncut gems and Paloma shares their enthusiasm and takes great pleasure in making them happy. This shows the acumen of Paloma in choosing Beijing as the birthplace of her own brand. Paloma thinks that westerns are also attracted to gems in their original shape, but Chinese customers always read more into it. They see the artistic value, the energy and the preciousness of one-and-only gems. Many of Paloma’s customers are female senior executives of large corporate. They are financially well-off. They used to buy international luxurious brands and they are now more drawn to niche brands like Paloma Sanchez, to get more originality and personality.

Paloma Sanchez has a boutique store in Beijing. She is looking for a place in Shanghai. Paloma has been invited to participate in the fashion week in September in London. Neimain Marcus sought her out. Paloma hopes that through these exposures, her brand and her works will be known to more.