Angela Cummings for Tiffany & Co. Stud Earrings
With her playfully bold, nature-inspired pieces, Angela Cummings has left a lasting mark on the world of jewelry design. Full of movement and sensational color, her eye-catching collar necklaces, stud earrings and bracelets continue to be favored by red-carpet celebrities and tastemakers the world over.
Cummings was born in Austria in 1944, during a time when her country was being torn apart by war. At the age of three her family moved to America, where she was raised. Returning to her native country as an adult, Cummings studied art in Perugia, Italy, then went on to study jewelry design in Hanau, West Germany. She graduated with a degree in gemology, goldsmithing and jewelry design from Zeichenakademie in 1967.
Cummings returned to the United States after finishing her studies. She marched into legendary American luxury house Tiffany & Co. in New York City and asked for a job. Under the mentorship of Donald Claflin, a designer who’d previously worked for David Webb, Cummings became a respected in-house designer for the brand. Her named collection, Angela Cummings Exclusively for Tiffany & Co., debuted in 1974.
Cummings created sumptuous 18K gold accessories that were inlaid with coral, opal, mother-of-pearl, jade and lapis lazuli. Not unlike the work of Elsa Peretti, who signed an exclusive contract with Tiffany & Co. in 1974, Cummings’ designs — seashell necklaces, maple leaf pendants — drew on the shapes and forms of the natural world.
As her style continued to develop, Cummings integrated silver, precious gemstones and platinum into her work, creating exquisite juxtapositions by mixing the materials with wood and iron. Her pieces increasingly featured more movement-inspired elements — curling vines, crashing waves and billowing cloud forms — that hearkened to the rhythms of nature.
In 1982, People magazine featured Cummings' jewelry and the publicity launched her into the spotlight. Two years later, she established her own business, Angela Cummings Inc., and began to experiment with abstraction in her work, as well as allowing her surroundings in Japan, where she opened several boutiques, to inspire her adornments.
Cummings retired in 2003, making a brief comeback in 2013 to collaborate with Assael Jewelry, for which she created an exclusive line of cultured pearl jewelry.
Find vintage Angela Cummings earrings, necklaces, brooches and other accessories on 1stDibs.
1990s American Angela Cummings for Tiffany & Co. Stud Earrings
Lapis Lazuli, Onyx, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Angela Cummings for Tiffany & Co. Stud Earrings
Gold, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
Late 20th Century American Angela Cummings for Tiffany & Co. Stud Earrings
Gold, 18k Gold
1980s Vintage Angela Cummings for Tiffany & Co. Stud Earrings
Yellow Gold
20th Century American Modern Angela Cummings for Tiffany & Co. Stud Earrings
18k Gold, Yellow Gold, Enamel
20th Century French Angela Cummings for Tiffany & Co. Stud Earrings
Diamond, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold, Platinum, Enamel
2010s Italian Angela Cummings for Tiffany & Co. Stud Earrings
18k Gold, Yellow Gold
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Art Deco Angela Cummings for Tiffany & Co. Stud Earrings
Diamond, White Diamond, Peridot, Coral, 9k Gold, Yellow Gold
21st Century and Contemporary Angela Cummings for Tiffany & Co. Stud Earrings
Amethyst, Diamond, Gold, 18k Gold
1980s Vintage Angela Cummings for Tiffany & Co. Stud Earrings
18k Gold, Enamel
1990s American Angela Cummings for Tiffany & Co. Stud Earrings
18k Gold, Yellow Gold, Sterling Silver
1990s American Angela Cummings for Tiffany & Co. Stud Earrings
18k Gold, Sterling Silver
1990s American Modernist Angela Cummings for Tiffany & Co. Stud Earrings
Amethyst, Yellow Gold
21st Century and Contemporary American Contemporary Angela Cummings for Tiffany & Co. Stud Earrings
Pearl, Cultured Pearl, Gold, 18k Gold
2010s French Contemporary Angela Cummings for Tiffany & Co. Stud Earrings
18k Gold, Yellow Gold, Gold
1980s American Vintage Angela Cummings for Tiffany & Co. Stud Earrings
18k Gold
1970s Vintage Angela Cummings for Tiffany & Co. Stud Earrings
Yellow Gold, 18k Gold
20th Century Angela Cummings for Tiffany & Co. Stud Earrings
Silver
1990s Contemporary Angela Cummings for Tiffany & Co. Stud Earrings
Aquamarine, Diamond, White Diamond, Gold, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
1990s Contemporary Angela Cummings for Tiffany & Co. Stud Earrings
White Diamond, Aquamarine, Diamond, Gold, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
Early 2000s American Contemporary Angela Cummings for Tiffany & Co. Stud Earrings
Pearl, Gold, 18k Gold
1980s Vintage Angela Cummings for Tiffany & Co. Stud Earrings
Opal, 18k Gold