IN the quiet village where he lives, jeweler Hans Brumann takes his daily walks under mango and santol trees. The Swiss-turned-Filipino still notices the small things: a curling leaf on the pavement, or one drying in the sun. “I see these on the sidewalk,” he said, “and then I bring them here and we make jewelry out of them.” When he returned from his native Switzerland, he brought home maple leaves perforated by their early deaths.
“Golden Leaf,” a 31-piece collection, draws on these patterns. Brumann, together with his protégé and successor Angelino Gabon, sculptor Impy Pilapil, and designer Tony Gonzales, turns nature’s lines into gold jewelry encrusted with diamonds.
On the workbench, the pieces echo the forest floor—leaves with veins cast in gold, fruit leaves furled into earrings or pendants.
Pilapil’s fiddlehead fern earrings in gold with diamonds as water droplets
A white gold lotus leaf balancing on a gold lotus leaf with misty droplets by Impy Pilapil
Pilapil drew inspiration from close to home. One morning, designer Al Caronan dropped by with stalks of lemongrass. On a whim, he knotted the stalks and slipped in flowers to brighten the breakfast table. Pilapil was struck by the spontaneous arrangement and designed a ring that mimicked the knot of a lemongrass stalk. Brumann added diamonds for sparkle.
From her garden, she turned to ferns and water plants. Her asymmetrical earrings channeled the spirals of the fiddlehead fern, crafted in white and yellow gold with brilliant diamonds scattered like dewdrops after the morning mist. A ring was inspired by lotus leaves that rise above water without absorbing the mud, a symbol of detachment. Two overlapping lotus leaves are perched on top of the shank, their surfaces dotted with white and yellow gold water globules.
If Pilapil’s work bends toward the lyrical, Tony Gonzales speaks in sharper tones. His style, which he calls “linear,” pares nature down to its structure. Leaves become skeletal forms—industrial, geometric, almost architectural. Pendants and earrings carry etched veins, their angles suggesting both fragility and strength.
Gonzales’ gold angular ring and earrings, inspired by the leaf skeleton, with diamonds
Angular ring inspired by the veins of a leaf, in gold with diamonds by Gonzales
What defines Gonzales’ pieces is their angularity, drawn from the vein patterns of leaves. Some lie flat, while others rise into three-dimensional triangles and prisms. He said the geometry reflects his personality—direct, structured, resistant to curves. The designs began as casual doodles, until a conversation with Brumann turned them into a shared language. “I like geometric shapes,” Gonzales recalled. “Hans said, ‘I like them too.’ From there, we influenced each other—his polish, my roughness—and the collaboration grew naturally.”
One of their collaborations is a rose gold mango leaf brooch paired with a curling santol leaf and a platinum tendril, bearing Brumann’s signature touch: a marquise diamond.
One collaboration with Gonzales is a rose gold mango leaf brooch paired with a curling ‘santol’ leaf and a platinum tendril, bearing Brumann’s signature touch: a marquise diamond
Coming from furniture and product design, Gonzales found jewelry more demanding because of its intimacy and scale. “With furniture, you can hide behind size,” he explained. “With jewelry, every detail is visible. It has to be flawless, and at the same time, it has to make the wearer more beautiful.”
If Gonzales brings structure, perhaps the most poignant works come from Angelino Gabon, who began as Brumann’s apprentice 25 years ago and is now his closest collaborator. He trained in Switzerland under jewelry designer and master goldsmith Jörg Stähli, Brumann’s former schoolmate.
Angelino Gabon’s rubber cord with aging maple leaf against black onyx
Angelino Gabon designs gold clips to secure the leaf with a diamond and the ring finger
Curling leaf pendant with brilliant cut diamond
Gabon’s pieces preserve the imperfections of leaves: a mango leaf bracelet curling inward, cradling a hidden one-carat diamond; overlapping leaves textured by the lost-wax casting process, veins intact as though lifted straight from the roadside. His most striking innovation is a ring that abandons the conventional band. Instead, two gold clips secure a curling leaf, accented by a diamond, as if pinning nature itself to the finger.
“He’s getting better than me already,” Brumann said with a laugh. Gabon demurred but acknowledged the influence. “I always adapt to his designs. I’ve learned by watching him every day.”
Most expensive: A gold neckpiece with Colombian emeralds, rubies, and diamonds
Brooch with two aging maple leaves nestling the diamonds
Brumann’s contributions carry the weight of decades. One standout is a choker of 14-karat yellow gold, heavy with Colombian emeralds, Burmese rubies, and diamonds, priced at ₱7 million. Another pendant frames a fiery Mexican opal between two mango leaves edged with diamonds. Still another brooch preserves the lacework holes of a decaying maple leaf, turning imperfection into elegance.
One ring, made of two overlapping leaves, needed no extra stones. Its warm, grainy texture—called the cinnamon finish—spoke for itself. The effect comes from texturing or sandblasting to bring out the organic surface of leaves and plants. The natural matte finish sits fresh against polished gold. “We’ve done this for a long time,” he said. “It’s just that now we use leaves themselves, not bark.”
In his Makati atelier, the atmosphere is less like a jewelry house and more like a family workshop. Many of Brumann’s artisans have been with him for decades, some for 40 years. Catalogs of the new collection have already gone out to loyal clients, with pieces reserved even before the exhibition opens.
Hans Brumann with his appointed successor Angelino Gabon, who is showing a leaf wax mold for a pendent. In the background is Brumann’s wife of 58 years, Maria.
At 84, Brumann shows no sign of slowing down, though he is conscious of time. “I love designing,” he said simply. Yet in “The Golden Leaf,” the focus is as much on legacy as on craft: the mentoring of Gabon, the collaboration with fellow artists, the willingness to let others leave their mark.
In the end, what unites the 31 pieces is not just their origin in fallen leaves, but the transformation of the fleeting into the lasting. A mango leaf that might have crumbled underfoot now curves around an emerald. A lemongrass stalk, once tossed on a breakfast table, gleams with diamonds on a lady’s hand.
Each piece preserves a trace of nature’s impermanence in gold—and with it, the quiet assurance that Brumann’s vision will endure
The ‘ Golden Leaf’ exhibit opens on Sept 11 at 6 pm at Galerie Brumann, LGF Legazpi Parkview Condominium, 134 Legaspi Street, Legaspi Village, Makati.
