Narcisa Pheres calm almost Zen-like demeanor is in stark contrast with her hectic lifestyle. She designs clothing for men and women made in Italy and is preparing to launch a skincare line. With her soft features and youthful appearance the 44-year-old entrepreneur could be the model for the cosmetics line.
Based in Hong Kong, on any given day she could be in Tokyo, the Middle East, India, Africa, Europe and the U.S. If that’s not enough, she is the mother of two girls, whom she raises with her husband, an insurance consultant with his own busy travel schedule.
Whether meeting her in Hong Kong or New York, she is always calm, soft spoken and highly articulate while sharing her experiences, new products and businesses as if everything she does requires little effort.
While Pheres has her hand in many areas of design and fashion, it’s fine jewelry that is her main focus and the reason for much of her travels. She specializes in bespoke and one-of-a-kind pieces that are sold under the Pheres brand throughout the world. These items start at $20,000 and can run well over $1 million. She also has a collection of ready-to-wear fine jewelry with prices ranging from $2,000 to $50,000.
She has quietly made a name for herself in much of the world, including in the U.S., with her jewels appearing on many red carpets, ranging from the Daytime Emmy Awards to the annual Met Gala. Among the boldfaced names wearing her pieces at high-profile events are Jennifer Lopez, Lady Gaga, Michelle Obama and Madonna. There are many more.
If that’s not enough, Pheres is the official jewelry supplier of Russian Princess Olga Romanoff, descendant of the House of Romanov, for whom she is creating bespoke tiaras that are inspired by the European royal courts jewels. At the same time she is working on a jewelry collection inspired by kinstugi, a Japanese art form that uses a precious metal, such as liquid gold, liquid silver or lacquer dusted with powdered gold, to bring together the pieces of a broken item and at the same time enhance the breaks. In addition, she will soon release Narcisa Pheres Fine Jewelry Royal Bridal Collection that consists of ideal cut hearts and arrows diamonds, which are cut to a very high degree of three dimensional symmetry and light performance.
She presents her business as a contemporary Italian luxury brand but her jewels reflect her diverse cultural heritage and experiences. She was born and grew up in Romania with parents of Romanian and Greek descent. She is a graduate of the University of Bucharest and studied fashion design in Milan and fashion marketing in London. She moved to Asia more than 20 years ago living in Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore. Although eventually settling in Hong Kong, she says she has special fondness for Japan. She started her career in Tokyo at a trading house, dealing with art, fine jewelry and antiques. It was this experience that shaped her idea of jewelry as art.
“My main role at work was buying antique jewelry, art, vintage wines and one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces at auctions around the world,” she said. “While sourcing and buying these pieces our clients would request to have some of them redesigned, thus I started jewelry design and slowly discovered my passion for this industry. Part of my education was in art and I always believed jewelry to be an important part of the arts.”
She describes her design process as “organic,” and her pieces have individual characteristics. However, there are some similarities. First, she prefers diamonds, in particular, statement fancy colored diamonds in blue, pink, yellow and green, often enhanced with white pavé diamond. She also has a fondness for tiaras and often turns to historical jewelry designs as inspiration. Other things that are a constant in her pieces are filigree techniques, long flowing earrings, flower motifs and two-finger rings. If there is one signature style, it is what she terms as a “cascading” effect, which she created by scattering diamonds and experimenting until the form appeared.
Even though she is a contemporary jeweler, the historical role of jewelry as art as well as western and eastern influences is an important part of her designs. She says there are stories behind each piece but she prefers the owners discover the meaning for themselves.
“Through tradition, heritage, innovation and creativity I try to bridge the nuances of art and vision. I am passionate of emulating reinterpretations of antiques and pieces of historical value along with drawing inspiration from museums, while catering to the modern woman,” she said. “The jewelry that I design and create has a deep-rooted meaning behind them. They all have a story that emulates a personal experience, cultural heritage or a significant motif. But I let all those layers to be discovered by each collector, as I believe beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”
