Shaun Leane retires after 40 years of avant-garde jewelry

After an exceptional 40-year career, Shaun Leane has announced the departure of his eponymous business while the company finds a buyer. With a career marked by iconic collaborations and a unique approach to creating pieces that fuse art and fashion, Leane has left an indelible mark on the jewelry industry.

Initially trained as a goldsmith in Hatton Garden, London, Leane’s talent quickly led him to collaborate with his friend Alexander McQueen, where his creations began to gain prominence. The combination of McQueen’s boldness and chutzpah with Leane’s skill resulted in pieces that not only adorned models on the runway, but also told stories and challenged the norms of what could and could not be done in design by the 1990s.

Among his most outstanding works is the Rose Corset for McQueen’s debut at Givenchy Haute Couture, in January 2000; the Coil Corset from McQueen’s “The Overlook” show, which has been hailed as one of the masterpieces of contemporary fashion, the crown of thorns created for the ‘Dante’ show, AW96, also by Alexander McQueen, and the Spine Corset from the Spring/Summer 1998 show, one of Shaun Leane’s most memorable pieces with McQueen.

In 1999, the expert jeweler launched his eponymous jewelry brand, and his pieces have been recognized worldwide, exhibited in prestigious museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Victoria & Albert in London. His ability to create sculptural jewelry has resonated with both the public and critics alike.

Leane’s retirement marks the end of an era, but hopefully his designs will continue to inspire future generations of jewelers to make dream pieces like the ones he brought to life.

To see all his iconic pieces, click here. And, did you see Louis Vuitton last haute joallerie colletion?