Angela Cummings 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.
21st Century and Contemporary Angela Cummings Earrings
Diamond, Pearl, 18k Gold, White Gold, Platinum
21st Century and Contemporary American Angela Cummings Earrings
Diamond, South Sea Pearl, Gold, Platinum
1980s American Modernist Vintage Angela Cummings Earrings
Gold, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
1980s Contemporary Vintage Angela Cummings Earrings
Agate, Carnelian, Gold, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
1980s American Contemporary Vintage Angela Cummings Earrings
18k Gold, Gold, Yellow Gold
20th Century American Modern Angela Cummings Earrings
Jade, Opal, Fire Opal, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
1980s American Modernist Vintage Angela Cummings Earrings
Gold, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
20th Century American Modern Angela Cummings Earrings
Diamond, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
1980s Vintage Angela Cummings Earrings
21st Century and Contemporary Angela Cummings Earrings
Diamond, Pearl, 18k Gold, White Gold, Platinum
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Angela Cummings Earrings
Diamond, Pearl, 18k Gold, White Gold
1980s American Modern Vintage Angela Cummings Earrings
Jade, Gold, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
1990s Angela Cummings Earrings
Yellow Gold
1980s American Vintage Angela Cummings Earrings
Gold
1980s American Vintage Angela Cummings Earrings
Black Jade, Yellow Gold
1980s Modern Vintage Angela Cummings Earrings
Gold, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
1980s American Modernist Vintage Angela Cummings Earrings
Gold, Yellow Gold, 18k Gold
1980s Vintage Angela Cummings Earrings
Pearl, Gold, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
1980s American Modernist Vintage Angela Cummings Earrings
Gold, Yellow Gold, 18k Gold
1980s Vintage Angela Cummings Earrings
18k Gold
Late 20th Century American Modernist Angela Cummings Earrings
Hematite, Gold, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
20th Century American Angela Cummings Earrings
Carnelian, Yellow Gold
20th Century American Modern Angela Cummings Earrings
Jade, Gold
1980s American Modernist Vintage Angela Cummings Earrings
Jade, Black Jade, Gold, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
1990s American Angela Cummings Earrings
Yellow Gold
20th Century American Modern Angela Cummings Earrings
Hematite, Yellow Gold
1980s North American Retro Vintage Angela Cummings Earrings
Gold
1980s Unknown Retro Vintage Angela Cummings Earrings
Hematite, Gold, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
20th Century American Angela Cummings Earrings
Gold, Enamel
1990s American Angela Cummings Earrings
Lapis Lazuli, Yellow Gold
Late 20th Century Angela Cummings Earrings
Diamond, Platinum
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Angela Cummings Earrings
Jade, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
