By Naomi Rougeau
Isabel Encinias and Mark Kroeker combine their aesthetic and ethical philosophies in a sleek fine-jewelry collection.
When jewelry designer Isabel Encinias met ready-to-wear designer Mark Kroeker at a fashion party some two decades ago, the pair quickly bonded over their nomadic upbringings: Kroeker grew up between Istanbul and Tehran before moving to the States as a teen; Encinias bounced between New Mexico and Paris.
Fast-forward to 2014, when despite the logistical challenges—Encinias was based in Paris, where she had worked as a designer for Boucheron, Louis Vuitton, and Fabergé; and Kroeker in New York, where he had launched his own brand, Mark Kroeker/Lost Collective, and served as creative director of Donna Karan's philanthropic lifestyle brand Urban Zen—the two launched Tejen (the ancient Egyptian word for "needle of stone"), a fine-jewelry line rooted in obelisklike forms. "We're both fascinated with ancient architecture," Kroeker says. "And we loved the lore that obelisks were placed next to sacred spots to disperse negative energy."
Made of fair-mined (exclusively from small-scale miners who employ strict labor protections), first-cast gold and conflict-free diamonds, each piece is manufactured by hand in the Lorraine region of France. "It's really sacred geometry: Any way you slice it, there's a perfect square, triangle, or circle," says Encinias, explaining the sort of high-jewelry cuneiform they've created. At the forefront is their "capstone" setting, a technical feat in which five diamonds form a pyramid, allowing light to filter from all angles.
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