Delight in the discord of Cora Sheibani’s ‘unpredictable and contrarian’ (and very wearable) designs

Jewelry designer Cora Sheibani’s eye for detail and form was refined from a young age, having been brought up immersed in what sounds like an exciting epicenter of the art and design world during the 1980s and ’90s. Her father, the Swiss-based international art dealer Bruno Bischofberger, and her mother Christina, both collectors, invited guests – often well-known artists and designers – into a home full of intriguing art, furniture, and objects, be it a kitchen chair or walls hung with works by Warhol and Basquiat.

Early on, Sheibani had an interest in collecting Roman bronze rings, attracted by their deceptively simple mechanics, and the way they aged through wear would later inform her interest in engineering as design. While studying art history her focus shifted to jewelry design, and after graduating she gained a qualification in gemology. “In the same way as some people are obsessed with shoes or beauty, jewelry is my thing,” Sheibani says. “I love wearing it – and creating it.”

Since launching her debut collection 20 years ago, she has attracted a following of aesthetically minded admirers of her one-off, playful designs. Sheibani’s inspirations spring from a well of diverse sources, from copper jelly molds to cacti and clouds, but what they all have in common is rich color, graphic shapes, and bold lines.

The very wearable designs are, in her words, “unpredictable and contrarian,” while she’s known for her expertise in determining gemstone cuts by how color reads across a surface. “I like color and contrasting forms and shapes and textures,” she explains. Sheibani’s most recent collection, Skin Deep, explores “the beauty, vulnerability, and transformation of the pearl,” considering its delicate luster and large palette of tones – from light blue and teal to green, or golden with pistachio or brown overtones. “The pearl’s nacre, built up layer by layer over time becomes a metaphor for the way we often judge beauty too quickly and superficially,” she says. “Much like human skin, its surface tells a deeper story, shaped by life, age, and resilience.” These pieces showcase her delight in discordant material combinations, contrasting cut gemstones, and disrupting the geometric lines of hard polished metals with the soft luminosity of pearls, highlighting tensions between strength and fragility.

Sheibani’s artful fondness for whimsical and unexpected – and often fun – pairings is key to her singular design sensibility. “I’m inspired,” she concludes, “by the freedom that not everything I design has to make sense.”