The day Nadine Ghosn turned crayons into high jewellery

Doodling and colouring are often hailed for their calming effects. But for the jeweller Nadine Ghosn, who is known for turning mundane objects such as straws and pens into cult bijoux, they sparked the creation of Colour-Full, a new collaboration with Crayola, which debuts at Dover Street Market this month.
While waiting for a friend at a restaurant, Ghosn asked for colouring paper and crayons, just like the child sitting at the next table. She began drawing freely and continued later while on a plane, having realised that her book was packed in the hold.
“The more I drew, the more I felt the joy of this activity inspiring ideas for jewellery,” she says. “I feel like we all have an inner child and we lose sight of it. My pieces are reviving a sense of curiosity.”
Ghosn immediately thought of Crayola, which loved the idea and initial designs. The first piece is an open bangle shaped like a crayon in brushed gold, impressed with a black enamelled logo and tipped with carved hardstones in various colours. It is customisable with gold colours, finishes and wording, and marks Crayola’s first high-end collaboration.
An enthusiastic client flaunted his own personalised bangle on social media before the official launch. Emblazoned in Crayola’s trademark black bubbly letters was “Yachty”. “Lil Yachty [the American rapper] approached me on Instagram because he wanted to buy a Lego ring for his friend Faye Webster, who wrote a song about it,” Ghosn says. (The collection is called Building Blocks and is not an official partnership with Lego.) But Yachty couldn’t resist adding a few items for himself to the shopping bag — a pen-shaped bangle in white gold with a blue sapphire cap and a rose-gold pencil with a rose-quartz eraser and black diamonds. “I discussed my upcoming project with Crayola and he was my first customer.”
Lil Yachty isn’t the only musician captivated by Ghosn’s designs. Drake commissioned her to design a dog lead twinkling with 50 carats of diamonds for his First Person Shooter music video, Beyoncé wore her Shut Up earring and Pharrell Williams featured her signature hamburger design with a side of fries in one of his Joopiter auctions.
Ghosn, 34, who was born in America to a Lebanese mother and Brazilian father, grew up between Tokyo and Paris before studying economics at Stanford, in California. On a visit home to see her mother in Beirut, a chance meeting with a local jewellery maker led her to going into business with him. Her first collection launched when she was 25 and was immediately picked up by the Paris boutique Colette. She lived in London until moving to Singapore last year, to build her Asian customer base.
“Nadine’s hallmark is blending creativity with quality,” says jewellery collector Paige Parker. “I love their attention to detail. Her jewellery is a statement and a conversation starter, a perfect mix of fun and elegance.”
Mothers have approached Ghosn to personalise a Crayola bangle with the names of their children, their favourite colours or a motto. “I’m blown away by the design’s countless possibilities,” the designer says.
Yet Colour-Full is more than bangles: the project allows clients to turn their offspring’s doodling into rings or pendants by engraving them in gold and painting them with enamel. It is a glamorous way to celebrate a child’s artwork and is an option that’s open to adults too. nadineghosn.com