A Trip to the Archives Inspires a New Collection at Tiffany & Co.
“The goal, every day-, is to try to -create the next icon,” says Tiffany chief artistic officer Reed Krakoff. Where does such a high stakes endeavor begin? Sometimes in Parsippany, New Jersey. The archives of the 183-year-old Tiffany & Co. are there, and so is constant inspiration. “When I started at Tiffany I spent a lot of time in the archives trying to see as much as I could,” Krakoff says.
“Over the past year or two, the visits have been more intermittent. I usually look through certain periods. I try not to take too much in at one time, because I think at some point you have to let go of that to move forward, and if you’ve spent enough time it’s kind of ingrained in your brain.”
Perhaps it’s natural that at a company named Tiffany, the letter T does linger. Legendary Tiffany creative director John Loring introduced a block motif T pattern in the early 1980s. Simplicity was the signature of Loring’s T; there were no flourishes in the collection of earrings, rings, and bracelets, no sign of a serif font (though the archives hold references to a more ornate T motif dating back to the 1970s).
The T appeared again in 2014 with a square and abstract double T approach. Krakoff, who joined the brand in 2017, has now put his own imprint on the Tiffany T tradition: His new T1 collection has a pared-down sensibility but increased dimensionality, and a knife edge inspired by the classic Tiffany engagement ring.
So where does the past end and the future icon begin? “The singular T motif is really what came from the archives,” Krakoff says. “The knife edge was very much inspired by the shank of the Tiffany setting, but the streamlined, edgy interpretation of the T motif is definitely a modern take.”
For anyone who has coveted other Tiffany trademark pieces—the silver Return to Tiffany heart bracelet, an Elsa Peretti bean pendant, a key charm hung from a chain—or given one of them to someone to mark a milestone occasion, well, we have a new graduation present idea for you.
This story appears in the May 2020 issue of Town & Country. Subscribe now
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