Ann Ziff has had a life-long love affair with jewelry and has a connoisseur’s eye for the world’s most exceptional gems. As a child, Ziff was fascinated by the elaborate jewelry worn by her mother, famed American opera singer Harriet Henders. Encouraged by her late husband, William B. Ziff, Jr., she began buying stones and creating her own original jewelry. From rare Australian black opals to prized Paraiba tourmalines and extraordinary Colombian emeralds, Ziff’s collection has evolved into one of the world’s preeminent collections of privately owned gemstones. Tamsen Z captures the exquisite beauty of these stones in handcrafted pieces that are truly one of a kind. Ziff designs each unique piece herself, choosing and arranging the stones, sketching the designs by hand, and she personally strings every gold, pearl and gem bead necklace herself. Her artistry lies in the mixing of color, texture and material: sparkling black diamonds strung with sapphires and handmade gold beads, rainbow-hued black opals surrounded by electric green demantoid garnets and vivid blue haüynites, and shimmering South Sea pearls set off by diamonds and aquamarines.