In partnership with Pandora
Freshwater pearls have long occupied an unusual place in the realm of jewellery. Formed through chance rather than symmetry, their value often lies in their irregularity; no two are alike, and each has a shape that resists repetition. It is this unpredictability that forms the foundation of Pandora Wonders, the jewellery brand’s new multi-year creative platform, which debuted with a collection exploring craftsmanship through the singular materiality of the freshwater pearl.
Created in collaboration with British stylist and creative director Harry Lambert, the inaugural collection transforms naturally occurring baroque pearls into frogs, mushrooms, squid, peas in a pod and melting ice cream cones. Rather than imposing a design upon the material, each pearl informed the object it would eventually become, allowing craftsmanship to follow the contours of nature – as opposed to overriding them. The result is a collection that sits comfortably between the familiar and the fantastical.
For Lambert, however, the spark of collaboration began well before the first sketch.
“I had the pleasure of working with Pandora first on a few other campaigns, where I was just styling,” Lambert tells RUSSH at the collection’s launch event in Paris. “I met the Creative Directors Filippo and Francesco and we kind of instantly bonded. They then started talking about Pandora Wonders – about using freshwater pearls. A pearl necklace was the first piece of jewellery I invested in when I moved to London – I had a fancy pearl around my neck and then a cheap pearl earring in my ear, which made my ear green. So, it kind of felt like the perfect match.”
The collection’s emotional centre doesn’t just use nostalgia as an aesthetic. Instead, Lambert says it is an honouring of some of his own childhood memories. Here, pearls become vessels for recollection, while others emerged simply through the imaginative possibilities presented by the unique forms of each pearl.
“These charms live in this world of nostalgia,” he continued.”The ice cream cone reminds me of my Nan and going to the seaside, which was my favourite place to go. The frog was inspired by how, every summer when the frogs would spawn from the tadpoles, the garden would be full of them. Hopefully it puts a smile on everyone’s faces.”
Not every piece, however, is tethered to autobiography. He tells RUSSH that the collection also embraces instinct, humour and the accidental discoveries that occurred as Pandora’s artisans sourced pearls whose natural silhouettes suggested entirely new characters. “Some of them were made from my memories, but some were just things that are fun. They sourced all the pearls and kind of found all the different shapes they could find multiples of and then it became this challenge of ‘that could be a squid’ or ‘that could be two peas in a pod’.”
As one of fashion’s most sought-after stylists, Lambert has spent years deciding how jewellery should be worn. Whether dressing Harry Styles or Josh O’Connor for the red carpet or shaping the visual language of an editorial, every piece is chosen with intention. But creating his own collection required him to relinquish that instinct. Rather than prescribing how each design should be styled, Lambert says he wanted to leave room for something far more personal: the wearer’s own interpretation.
“I always find that jewellery feels more personal. When use jewellery in styling, I find it harder to use smaller pieces because for me, they do feel so personal and special. So in this collection, when people ask ‘How do I wear it?’ I’m always like, ‘You need to make that decision yourself’. I feel like we attach memories to jewellery. You pick the charm that you love and wear it the way that you want to. When it comes to styling for the red carpet, I’m very much a big earring person, more costume. For this, I’m like, do what you want.”
If Wonders proposes that craftsmanship is inseparable from imagination, its launch during Paris Haute Couture Week offered a fitting physical expression of that philosophy. Hosted at the newly opened Le Gratin, the evening transformed Lambert’s creative universe into an immersive environment where playful storytelling sat alongside exceptional craftsmanship.
Guests including Alexa Chung, Paloma Elsesser, Dree Hemingway, Kim Petras, Pat McGrath, Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, Camille Charrière and Lynn Yaeger arrived wearing pieces from the collection before moving through a series of installations inspired by Lambert’s world, from distorted mirrors to playful games that celebrated curiosity and perspective.
Champagne was served over ice alongside freshly shucked oysters, lobster rolls and caviar while Parisian DJ Louise Chen soundtracked the evening. As dusk settled over the city, Madonna’s Vogue transformed the terrace into an impromptu dance floor, guests forming a spontaneous circle and singing each lyric beneath the last light dimming over the Paris skyline.
Pandora Wonders will be available in limited quantities at select Pandora stores and on the Pandora website from 8 July 2026.
