When I happened upon the boutique of Turkish-Armenian designer Sevan Bicacki in the Design District and beheld his jewels, displayed as they would be (and deserve to be) in a museum, I thought I was gazing upon a display of an Ottoman sultan’s treasures in Istanbul’s Topkapi Palace. Internationally celebrated fine jewelry artist Sevan Biçaçki has opened his first boutique in the Americas in a highly distinctive decor featuring blue and white painted Ottoman domes.
Biçaçki has long been a favorite secret of celebrity stylists and dedicated collectors who for years have made the pilgrimage to his studio near Istanbul’s legendary Grand Bazaar to bring home show stopping pieces. His one-of-a-kind jewels take months—sometimes more than year—to craft by hand, and combine dozens of ancient and modern techniques ranging from the cutting and sculpting of gems, to micro-mosaics, painting, calligraphy and incredibly intricate metalwork.
Every jewel tells a story, such that prestige art publisher Assouline did a large coffee table book on his work. Few jewelry designers would dare risk shattering scarce stones and carving away precious metals to send seagulls swooping beneath the domed sky of a sculpted gem or make peacocks preen amidst a garden of diamonds, but these are the details that bring the story to life. Big, bold statement rings are what he’s most known for, but he also has gorgeous bracelets with rubber bands and jeweled clasps patterned on scimitars and very popular jeweled silver pendants.
His work has been exhibited in top museums and art galleries throughout the world and has earned some of the industry’s top honors, including six Couture Design Awards. As New York Times’ writer Susanne Fowler described in her 2014 feature, “Calling Sevan Biçakçi a jeweler is like calling Michelangelo a carver.”
His work is a parade of exceptional craftsmanship and unbridled imagination. And now it’s on view in Miami. The new store is located just above the Buckminster Fuller Fly’s Eye Dome in Palm Court of Miami Design District and is open Monday through Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., and on Sundays from Noon to 6 p.m.
Every Sevan Biçakçi jewel is uniquely designed and handcrafted, so prices begin at $7,000 and range to well over $1 million. And with no two pieces alike, visiting Sevan’s boutique in the Design District is a new adventure every time. The jewels on display beneath the domes out front are just the beginning. Once you’ve pulled up a chair to share a coffee or glass of wine with the staff, the steady stream of surprises paraded from the vaults in the back seem as inexhaustible as the Turkish hospitality.
