Inside the jewellery boxes of three discerning collectors

Some people collect jewellery. Joanna Gong, a cultural strategist and former Sotheby's specialist and director, collects stories.

Ask her about her Anthony Lent ring or a treasured rabbit brooch and the conversation rarely begins with gemstones or goldsmithing. Instead, it wanders towards family, friendship, and the invisible threads that connect people across generations. For Gong, jewellery has never been solely about adornment. It is a way of carrying history.

“Jewellery is one of the few forms of art you can live with,” she reflects. “It can be worn, hold value, and eventually become an heirloom.” Yet what fascinates her most is not the object itself, but what it represents. That belief is reflected throughout her collection, which feels deeply personal. The daughter of a Chinese antiquities scholar, she grew up surrounded by archaic jades and ancient objects, absorbing their stories long before she began building a collection of her own. Today, many of those pieces have found their way into her hands. One of the first her father passed down was a jade plaque dating to the Warring States period, which she later remounted in gold and diamonds, restoring its original intention as a wearable object with a modern twist.

Antiquity sits comfortably alongside contemporary design in Gong’s approach to collecting. When deciding what belongs to her collection, she trusts her instinct above all else. “They need to make my eyes light up,” she says. Rarity, provenance, and value may all matter, but for Gong, they come later. That instinct has also led to some unexpected purchases: she once bought a pair of JAR aluminium earrings while waiting for friends in the Parisian heat. “It was an enjoyable pastime!" she laughs.

Growing up, she was captivated by the jewels themselves. Now, she finds herself equally drawn to the people behind them. Relationships with contemporary jewellers have evolved into lasting friendships, and pieces acquired over time have become markers of those connections. “There’s something incredibly special about collecting your own generation alongside the generations that came before it,” she says.

If there is a recurring theme running through Gong’s collection, it is inheritance—not simply of objects, but of values. One of the pieces she treasures most is a Shang dynasty jade rabbit gifted by her father. He spent years collecting rabbit-themed objects for her mother, whose zodiac sign is the rabbit, and the brooch has become a quiet symbol of their family’s shared language of collecting.

As a specialist in antique and vintage jewellery, with a particular love for pieces from the late 19th and 20th centuries in England and France, when you look inside her jewellery box, you will not find a catalogue of acquisitions. You will find evidence of a life lived attentively. Every piece is attached to a person, a place, a conversation, or a chapter. “There is always love and community behind my collection,” she says.

Perhaps that is also the best advice she can offer to anyone beginning their own collection:trainyoureye before you train your wallet. See as much as you can. Visit museums, read books, follow auctions, and handle objects whenever you have the opportunity. Love some things, dislike others, and let those reactions teach you what moves you. “Read more and buy less,” she advises. For Gong, a meaningful collection is ultimately built through curiosity, instinct, and trust.

Some people save jewellery for special occasions. Leila Kashanipour, a London-based jewellery designer and luxury brand strategist, wears hers every day.

It is a philosophy that runs through both her collection and her life. Fine jewellery is not reserved for black-tie dinners or family weddings. It is worn with the everyday rhythms of work, travel, and motherhood; layered with beads, mixed with vintage finds and contemporary design. “Jewellery feels most natural to me when it becomes part of daily life,” she says.

As a Persian woman, jewellery has always been woven into the fabric of her upbringing. Long before she studied jewellery design at Central Saint Martins, launched her own jewellery brand or trained in diamond grading at GIA, she was peering into her grandmothers’ jewellery boxes, fascinated by the stories they contained.

Today, those stories remain at the heart of her collection. Among the pieces she treasures most is a pear-shaped diamond necklace given to her by her mother when she was 14. There is also a channel-set diamond tennis bracelet her father bought for her mother in Italy and later passed down to her. Unlike many collectors, she has no desire to alter either. Their original character is part of what makes them meaningful.

Yet some of the most significant pieces are the ones she bought for herself. A Cartier Santos-Dumont watch, a vintage Cartier Panthère, and a Bulgari Tubogas necklace mark moments of personal achievement. “Purchasing a piece for yourself carries a different meaning,” she says. “It represents independence, personal taste, and the decision to celebrate your achievements.”

Her collection today is layered, eclectic, and difficult to categorise. Art Deco sits alongside contemporary design. Beads are worn with diamonds. Houses such as Taffin and Hemmerle appeal to her artistic sensibility, while designers like Deszo by Sara Beltrán and CV Stones bring an organic quality she finds equally compelling. What connects the pieces is not a particular period or aesthetic, but individuality.

That instinct has become more refined with time. Where she once responded primarily to visual impact, she now notices proportion, balance, and the intelligence behind a design. “A piece does not need to be loud to be powerful,” she says. The first test, however, remains emotional. She needs to feel something. Originality and craftsmanship matter, but so do the people behind them. Some of the pieces she values most come from designers she knows personally, transforming jewellery from an object into a record of a creative relationship. Her advice to other collectors is simple: “Do not feel pressured to define your taste too quickly. The best collections develop gradually and reveal the person who built them.”

That philosophy is best captured by the piece she would never part with: her engagement ring. A few years ago, she reset its diamond onto a simple gold band, allowing the stone to almost float. After 15 years of marriage, it has evolved with her. Its value lies not in the diamond itself, but in everything it represents.

Look inside her jewellery box, and you will not find a single defining aesthetic. Instead, you will find traces of a life lived between cultures, generations, and chapters.

Ramya Giangola, Founder of Gogoluxe and fashion strategist, likes jewellery with a little unpredictability. A Cartier Tank Française gifted by her parents on her 18th birthday sits alongside African trading beads bought on her travels, Victorian diamond-cut rings, vintage finds, and the costume jewellery of Phoebe Philo’s Celine. There is no formula to what stays in rotation. If she loves it, she wears it.

Her jewellery habit is less about collecting a particular look than remaining open to discovery. Giangola describes herself as being in a constant state of exploration—through art, literature, music, film, culture, travel and, above all, people. Jewellery happens to be one of the things she finds along the way. A piece from a Marrakech souk can become as meaningful as something far more precious; an encounter with a designer can lead to a friendship, which can lead to another jewel.

That sense of connection is central to the way she buys. She wears Lauren Rubinski almost every day, drawn not only to the jewellery but to the creative mind behind it. She has known Marisa Klass for more than 20 years and treasures her work with crystals and stones. “They all inform the bigger picture of who I am at my core,” Giangola says of the many worlds that feed her.

She finds the same pleasure in looking backwards. Vintage discoveries carry evidence of another time, while contemporary jewellery allows designers to reinterpret those references in their own language.

Coming from an Indian family, inherited jewellery is part of Giangola’s story, but she doesn’t treat these heirlooms as untouchable. Her mother has given her permission to do whatever she likes with the pieces from her wedding, and Giangola has a fantasy of taking them all to Paris to sit with her dearest friend, Rubinski. Her idea is to transform elements into three matching pieces—one for her mother, one for herself, and one for her daughter—so they can all wear them every day, as a constant reminder of their love and bond.

It is this willingness to keep things moving that has changed the way Giangola wears jewellery. She has become bolder with age, reaching for larger pieces and combinations she might once have considered too much. There is no separate category for the everyday and the exceptional. Everything is in play.

That extends to the way she shops. Jaipur’s crown jewel Gem Palace is, in her words, “impossible” to walk out of without several impulse purchases. The fact that those pieces have lasted—and continue to be worn—is perhaps the best defence of the impulse buy.

Her advice to anyone beginning a collection is equally instinctive: do not buy something simply because everyone else has it. The value of a jewel lies in the relationship you develop with it, not in the approval attached to owning it. “It’s not about what you can afford,” she says. “It’s about how you choose to wear jewellery that can be a true expression of yourself.”

There are still pieces she is looking for: a Picasso- inspired sun-face necklace by Jennifer Alfano, and a rare vintage Piaget on a leather cord like Rubinski’s. But Giangola seems happiest leaving the door open to whatever comes next. “We are at a moment where anything goes,” she says. “And I love it.”

This article originally appeared in Harper's Bazaar India's August-September 2026 print issue.

Lead image: Bespoke celestial opal collar necklace by Anthony Lent

Image credits: courtesy of Joanna Gong, Leila Kashanipour, and Ramya Giangola

Also read: Is playing it safe on the red carpet the new ‘chic’ trend? The 2026 Emmys might say so

Also read: The fringe effect is taking over this season’s dresses