Tiffany & Co. has returned to where it all began, debuting the next chapter of high jewelry with Blue Book 2025: Sea of Wonder in New York City with several days of events that crescendo with a gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Created by chief artistic director of jewelry and high jewelry Nathalie Verdeille, Sea of Wonder is a direct link to the archive of Jean Schlumberger — Tiffany’s much-loved and influential creator known for his fantastical designs. Verdeille reinterpreted his marine life masterpieces in the latest collection, embarking on a new journey under the ocean with creations punctuated with technical feats, one-of-a-kind gemstones and a touch of dreamy surrealism.

“Everything started in Manhattan for us,” explained president and chief executive officer Anthony Ledru during an exclusive preview of the collection.

Blue Book collections stretch back to Tiffany’s beginning at the end of the 18th century and are firmly planted in the house’s heritage. For decades the brand showed in Manhattan, but over the past few years, it has taken the collection on the road to Shanghai, Miami and Los Angeles.

“To do Blue Book again in New York, it goes back to tradition,” Ledru said, pointing to Tiffany & Co.’s sweet spot — in line with the jewelry houses of Europe — of the brand’s deep patrimony, but with a uniquely American point of view. And in modern terms, New York is the brand’s number-one market for high jewelry in volume and number of clients, Ledru reported. 

Last year when bringing Blue Book to Los Angeles, Ladru noted to WWD that high jewelry was “recession proof.” Much has changed for the global economy since then with the uncertainty of the Trump administration and its stop-and-go tariffs. Last week LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton’s chief financial officer Cécile Cabanis reported that sales were flat at the watches and jewelry unit of the group, which includes Tiffany & Co.

“I think, of course, it’s an uncertain world right now,” Ladru said, adding, however, that Tiffany has seen growth in the first quarter. The CEO explained the pool of high jewelry clients is small, “maybe 10,000 active clients” worldwide for all high jewelry brands. But demand exceeds availability.

“You’re in the world of scarcity and unique,” he said, elaborating that the brand’s top clients want to know what is coming as soon as possible to secure the best pieces. “It’s a different world. That’s why I believe it is resilient,” he said.

A prime example: in the lead up to the Sea of Wonder debut: a select group of very important clients were given a preview so they could reserve pieces from the collection ahead of its launch. And several did.

Over the past few years, the high jewelry category has come out of the discreet shadows with archive pieces creating content booms on red carpets. Today the category is extremely competitive, with brands not only showing high jewelry in Paris during the haute couture season but also hosting far off destination debuts with social media strategies.

Under Ledru, Tiffany is polishing the brand by linking its legacy to the now. At the 2025 Oscars, best actress winner Mikey Madison wore a Tiffany Archive platinum and diamond necklace. High jewelry and archival creations have become the lodestar for jewelry brands.

“We’re 100 percent on that,” the CEO said of the diving force of patrimony at Tiffany & Co., pointing to the recently opened Milan boutique, where 48 pieces of the brand’s archival jewelry were showcased. “Of course you cannot buy archive, but I think it creates storytelling,” he said.

It’s here — referencing the past, to push forward — where Verdeille began with Sea of Wonder. A little more than three years at the creative helm, she has channeled sea life before with Blue Book 2023: Out of the Blue. “It was really more contemplation, admission, respect,” she said of her debut collection and early days at the brand. Now she has a deeper understanding of the house and Schlumberger’s work. “Before you join the brand you discover it [Schlumberger’s work]. But when you meet the pieces for the first time, it’s very different, you win maturity, confidence,” she said.

Her latest collection sees her creativity blossom with unique ideas and newness. “We have a good moment to take the risk,” she said. “Now we understand, we respect and we developed a freedom to really follow the story to bring all the strength of the Tiffany brand.”

The collection breaks out in suites with Wave, Ocean Flora, Urchin, Starfish, Seahorse and Sea Turtle. “It was all the magic of the light, of the wave, the movement, the delicateness,” Verdeille said of a green and blue cuprian elbaite tourmaline necklace with delicate articulating fonds from the Wave suite. It embraces the power of water, laying on the décolletage with a spiral shape.

The blue inked gemstone reminded her of the shimmering of light, a “luminescence.” Verdeille proudly took a moment to admire the back of the piece, explaining that she was taught to consider both sides of the complicated design to show the level of craftsmanship.

Across the collection are a mix of brooches and pins: sea turtles with diamonds; a starfish with rubies, with each point curved as if the ocean is washing over it, a static piece with a trompe-l’oeil nod to movement.

Brooches and pins she says is an overture to a male customer — Robert Downey Jr. wore an archival Schlumberger brooch to the 2025 Oscars. She loves to play with the tension between feminine and masculine in her work, but she supports anyone wearing pieces as they see fit. “That’s modern,” she said.

A high jewelry collection can take two to three years for her to develop from her original impulses, locating gemstones and then mastering technics. “We can make a miracle, but it’s better to take the time,” she said of her process. There are many incredible stones, but one ultimate standout is a custom cushion-cut, 16.5 D carat, internally flawless type IIA diamond in a ring, part of the Ocean Flora suite.

Throughout her work the exceptional nature of the stones is heightened, in the Urchin suite she developed a new technique for setting the stone with a rope of gold that “dances around” it. The suite uses paillonné enameling, one of the oldest techniques in fine jewelry, thought fashionable during the Renaissance. Schlumberger breathed new life into the technique in the 1960s.

The old-world method requires skill and extreme precision — rather than applying the enamel directly onto a metal, they encapsulate thin curved silver leaves between them “bringing volume and texture to the piece, but also new shades of color,” she said. Like in the sea, where light passes through the water to ricochet off the pearly hues of the shells, here the light penetrates the colored enamel, reflected on delicate silver leaves.

Within the Seahorse suite is a stone not often seen in high jewelry, blue zircon. Unconventional, it lends a specific and electric glow with a high refraction index that is unlike any other colored gemstone. She chose it because its crisp brilliance contrasts against the carved moonstones on a necklace. “You can see the transparencies, it was to remind me of the shell,” she said.

The Landmark, the Fifth Avenue epicenter of Tiffany & Co., has a multilevel buildout showcasing the new collection with archival pieces for private clients and media to enjoy. After its New York debut, the collection will travel to Hong Kong, where the next chapter will be revealed with Wave 2, then Paris and Tokyo in July. The collection goes on to Bangkok in August and lands in Milan in September for the launch of Wave 3.

Back in Manhattan, Friday night’s Tiffany & Co. gala in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s American Wing to fete the new collection will include a range of house ambassadors, clients and guests, with models wearing the pieces throughout the evening. “The Met will be very contextual,” the CEO said. “It’s completely linked to Tiffany. We have mutual passion for the city.”

Ledru went on to say that Tiffany “is very clear about where we want to go. It’s all about heritage. We looked at the past. We did that with Alexandre [Arnault, former vice president of product and communications] for the last three to four years. It takes time to align the engines. There was 20 to 30 years that were phenomenal for Tiffany. The 1960s to 1980s. And the reason why is the design was extraordinary.

“Everything that we’re doing today is around that,” he said.