Jade Ruzzo

Jade Ruzzo

Jade Ruzzo launched her eponymous fine jewelry line in New York in 2022, after a decade working at Conde Nast titles and as a personal stylist. The specific thing that drives the collection is family: pieces are named for and inspired by her late father Vic, a drummer, and her daughter Gloria, born in 2019, with the Percussion collection built directly around his cymbals and drum motifs.

Jewelry

This first grid of jewelry leans on the cabochon heavy Vic collection and the drum and cymbal shapes of Percussion, both named for Ruzzo's father, a professional drummer she lost in 2015. The heirloom framing is not marketing gloss here, it is close to literal: she has said she designs pieces meant to be passed to her daughter Gloria. That intent shows in how sentimental the collection names actually are.

More Jewelry

A second grid brings in the Tennessee collection, designed while Ruzzo was working in that state, mixing heavier metal with more delicate moving gemstones. It is a useful contrast to the Vic and Percussion pieces, showing a designer working through more than one register rather than repeating a single silhouette. Vogue named her a New Designer to Know in 2023, which tracks with the range on display here.

Our honest take

Our honest take is that Jade Ruzzo earns its heirloom framing more honestly than most brands that reach for that word, since the backstory predates the marketing rather than following it. The designs are specific enough, drums, cymbals, family names, that they read as personal rather than generic. That specificity is the reason to pay attention to a label this new.