Forms brings pearl-forward high jewelry to TEFAF New York debut

Forms is betting that American collectors will meet natural pearls in a buying mood, not a browsing one. For its first U.S. market appearance, the Hong Kong high jewelry house brought pearl-forward pieces to TEFAF New York, including natural pearl and orange-yellow diamond shell earrings and a separate pair of long diamond-and-pearl earrings.

That is a sharper commercial statement than a simple stylistic flourish. Natural pearls sit at the top end of jewelry scarcity because they are formed without human intervention, while orange-yellow diamonds add another layer of rarity and color intensity. Put together, the materials read less like a trend exercise than a collector’s proposition: one gem prized for organic origin, the other for geological exception. In a market where provenance and material story increasingly shape value, the combination gives Forms a clear pitch.

The timing mattered. TEFAF New York 2026 ran May 15 to 19 at the Park Avenue Armory, preceded by an invitation-only collectors’ preview on May 14. The fair marked its 10th New York edition and brought 88 exhibitors from 15 countries across four continents. TEFAF says it is the only art fair at the Armory to activate all 16 historic period rooms, a setting that reinforced the salon-like ambition of Forms’ presentation.

Forms was founded in 2010 by Elad Assor and Tzvika Janover, and it operates appointment-only ateliers in Hong Kong and Geneva. After four years exhibiting at TEFAF Maastricht, the brand used New York as its entry point into the U.S. market, placing it before a small cluster of jewelry specialists rather than in a standalone luxury showcase. Alongside Forms, the jewelry-focused names at the fair included Didier Ltd., FD Gallery, Hemmerle and Ana Khouri.

That company list matters. TEFAF New York is still primarily a modern and contemporary art fair, so a pearl-centered high jewelry presentation has to justify itself on connoisseurship, not spectacle alone. Forms’ shell earrings and long diamond-and-pearl pair did that by leaning into material rarity, formal restraint and the kind of craftsmanship that collectors can assess up close.

For pearl buyers, the message was clear: high jewelry is not only returning to pearls, it is asking American collectors to consider them as serious objects of acquisition, with natural origin and documentary scarcity as part of the appeal.