In September 2020, Parisian Hugo Kreit founded his jewelry brand. Hugo has an atypical background: his track record includes a degree in industrial design and organizing shows for Hermès, Dior, and Jacquemus. Perhaps this explains his desire to experiment and break the unspoken laws of the jewelry industry. Kreit is not burdened by the limiting attitudes and clichés that venerable jewelers often commit. That is why he playfully and very effectively combines seemingly incompatible elements in his collections. For example, simple synthetic materials with natural gold and pearls.
It took a year to create the first collection, Tears. Most of the time was spent experimenting with unusual materials, but now this is one of the main features of Hugo Kreit jewelry. The range includes, for example, earrings made of liquid chrome, ear cuffs made of soft polymer and claw rings made of cast aluminum.
Another distinctive detail of the brand is the “fluid” shapes of the pieces. “My jewelry is fun and glamorous, but at the same time there is something disturbing about it. I like to surprise, everything strange seems attractive to me,” says Hugo Kreit. “I like that jewelry, like art, is connected with religion and superstition, but also with temptation, pleasure and madness. Usually, the carat weight and quality of the stone separate the precious from the cheap and the rare from the ordinary. I like to challenge this.”
For Harris Reed’s debut collection at Nina Ricci, he created earrings, bracelets and a necklace based on the famous L’air du Temps perfume bottle: a hovering crystal dove slightly changed shape and “flew” onto the earlobes, necks and wrists of models at the brand’s Paris show. And something tells me that these pieces have a better chance of commercial success than the controversial clothes from the same collection.
Hugo Kreit pieces have become a favorite among fashionistas on social media and celebrities, especially singers. Bjork, Megan Thee Stallion, Doja Cat and Nicki Minaj have worn the brand’s jewelry in music videos, while Dua Lipa and Cardi B have worn it on the red carpet.
