Stoned

The oldest known piece of jewelry is a necklace made from Nassarius shells. Stemming from the Latin word jocale, which means plaything, jewelry has been the modern symbol of wealth, beauty, luxury and, sometimes, even taste.

From the olden days when maharajahs used to plant rubies and diamonds on everyday things like combs and backscratchers to the post-postmodern era, when jewelry can be drilled into one’s teeth reading “Bitch” to silk embroidered necklaces adorned with semi-precious stones, the language of jewelry has spread far and wide.

Today it is used as a modern expression of individuality. Sure, you may get the stuffy matron here and there in her parodied sets of quail egg-shaped gems meant to show off her wealth; however, the new gems are all about the statement, not the net worth. Ever since Coco Chanel mixed bijoux jewels with real ones, the art of accessorizing has never been the same. Now real stones are made to look bijoux, adding to the whole insouciant theatrics of adornment in modern times.

L’Obelisk is a home for gems, a place where they can be showcased as their most exotic selves. Yards of leather house a sexy piece of onyx, sexy feline themes come to play as well as serpents and even the odd amphibian. The House of L’Obelisk is for the true individual. A rock-and-roll bonanza of the modern spirit of jewels.

The owner’s daughter, Aslie Aslanian, who wears the pieces with much aplomb, is the perfect muse. Truly, each exotic shape enhances the real individual in all of us.

Bijoux queen Coco Chanel may have said, “Elegance is restraint.” In L’Obelisk it’s hard to follow such a tiresome dictum.

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L'Obelisk is located at the mezzanine level of The Peninsula Manila (tel. 887-6812), and is also available at Rustan's Makati.