A red-carpet jewellery moment becomes more interesting when there is a story behind the stones. At the Toronto International Film Festival, Academy Award winner Penélope Cruz wore high jewellery from ZOYA, the luxury jewellery atelier from the Tata Group, for her film’s screening. Her appearance brought together golden heliodor, violet amethyst and tanzanites in a selection that placed colour and sculptural craftsmanship at the centre of the look.
The appearance offered an early glimpse of ZOYA’s upcoming high jewellery collection, which draws inspiration from India’s spices. It is a starting point rich in sensory associations: the warmth of turmeric, the familiarity of everyday rituals and the memories carried by a particular colour or scent. Within the atelier’s design language, these references take shape through natural gemstones, intricate settings and forms that connect personal storytelling with contemporary Indian jewellery.
The Rekindle Necklace gives that inspiration its clearest expression. Reinterpreting the eternity silhouette, the piece features 19 carats of golden heliodor, its colour recalling the warmth of turmeric. Yellow and pink sapphires surround the central gemstones, introducing a combination of tones that gives the necklace its distinctive character. The emphasis is on the relationship between colours, with each stone contributing to the composition.
Its construction is equally considered. Sculptural forms flow into an open lattice, while an open-back setting allows light to pass through the heliodors. This arrangement brings attention to the depth of the gemstones and lends the necklace a sense of movement. According to ZOYA, the piece required more than 1,200 hours of craftsmanship, reflecting the work involved in translating its fluid design into a finished jewel.
Alongside the necklace, Cruz wore the Wildflower Heart Ring, a piece inspired by the spontaneous beauty of flowers growing freely. At its centre sits a 13-carat amethyst fashioned in ZOYA’s signature Bloom Cut™, with spiralling facets designed to give the gemstone the appearance of a sculptural bloom. Pink sapphires and diamonds extend around the violet centre, creating a layered composition of colour and light.
The atelier says the proprietary cut was perfected over nearly a year of experimentation and precision cutting. That process is central to the ring’s character: the floral reference emerges through the gemstone’s faceting as well as the surrounding setting. The result connects a familiar natural form with the technical possibilities of gemstone cutting.
Completing the selection was ZOYA’s Iconic Lattice Bangle. Its gold lattice is illuminated by brilliant-cut diamonds, with emerald-cut tanzanites at the chamfered ends. The bangle introduces a more architectural rhythm to the ensemble, complementing the necklace’s fluid construction and the ring’s floral form. Together, the three pieces demonstrate the atelier’s interest in using structure, colour and light as connected elements of design.
For Amanpreet Ahluwalia, Business Head at ZOYA, the TIFF appearance reflects the importance of developing a recognisable creative identity. “We believe the future of luxury will be defined by originality, by Houses that have the courage to develop a language entirely their own,” she said. “We have always wanted to create meaningful jewellery rooted in our own cultural stories, with a distinctive language of colour, design and craft, while speaking to the woman of today.”
Founded in 2009, ZOYA has developed its approach to luxury jewellery around gemstone artistry, personal narratives and Indian cultural references. Its work spans high jewellery, bespoke commissions and fine jewellery, with innovations including the ZOYA Baoli® setting, Bloom Cut™ and Aeterna Diamond Cut™ forming part of its design vocabulary. The upcoming spice-inspired collection extends that interest in finding contemporary expressions for familiar Indian stories.
On Cruz, those ideas reached an audience beyond the atelier. The golden warmth of the Rekindle Necklace, the vivid centre of the Wildflower Heart Ring and the geometry of the Iconic Lattice Bangle offered distinct expressions of Indian high jewellery on the TIFF red carpet. Their shared appeal lay in the details: the way a gemstone was cut, the space left for light to enter and the cultural memory carried by a particular shade of gold.
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Cover photo: John Salangsang/Shutterstock (17151568ac). Penélope Cruz at the La Bola Negra Canadian premiere, TIFF, 15 September 2026.
