THE HIGHEST EXPRESSION OF CRAFT
STONE OF LIGHT
A collection of green sapphires, gold and bronze, created in dialogue with light, exclusively available in select AHLEM Ateliers in New York, Los Angeles and Paris.
Stone of Light is a collection of three limited-edition frames made with rare gemstones, precious metals and French techniques honed over generations. Applying the rigor and poetry of fine jewelry to the functional object, the frames discover a new language for giving form to light.
Stone of Light began from an evolution in how founder and designer Ahlem Manai-Platt thinks about precious gems. "Over time they’ve taken on new meaning for me, becoming less about adornment and more about intention,” she explains. “What interests me now isn’t the ornament of the stones but their dialogue with light.” Each frame explores that relationship within the context of eyewear, exercising discretion in how the sapphires are placed and respect for their interactions with material, movement and architecture.
Intention begins at the core: Each piece is sculpted from a base of bronze, chosen for its strength and resistance to wear, electroplated in 5 microns of gold for a luminous finish. “A whisper of gold,” says Manai-Platt, “enough to illuminate, just shy of full-blown splendor.” These metal rims are integrated into the lens, resulting in a line so slender it almost disappears.
Along the silhouettes, light moves like liquid, flowing down smooth planes and over raised textures, pooling at focal points. At the temples of each style, rare green sapphires, hand-set in an 18K-gold ring by Vernet Dray, capture and distribute small beams of radiance. The venerated Lyonnais atelier has crafted pieces for prestigious Place Vendôme houses for more than a century. Across the rhythm
of an Art Deco pyramid relief, inspired by the building facades of Manai-Platt’s Paris neighborhood, light skips and ripples. Temples culminate in a hand-hammered white-gold disc that echoes the sapphires’ prismatic facets.
Each Stone of Light frame arrives in a tri-compartment box with magnetic closure, with a Napa-leather hard case and a limited-edition microfiber cloth by artist Ramón Enrich.
The collection is available by appointment at AHLEM ateliers in Nolita and the Meatpacking District in New York; Melrose in Los Angeles; Saint-Germain and Haut Marais in Paris; and Minamiaoyama in Tokyo. Clients elsewhere may book a virtual appointment with a participating atelier.