The alchemist; A jack of all fashion trades, jewelry designer Taher Chemirik has turned his personal history into some kind of wonderful.

Byline: Natasha Fraser-cavassoni

Taher Chemirik's jewelry casts such a tactile spell that it's hard not to pick up a piece and absentmindedly play with it. A raw emerald or a polished crystal dangles from an 18K-gold necklace; encased diamonds protrude from gold bangles; and eye-shaped links of different sizes make up a slinky silver choker.

There's a richness and romance to Chemirik's work; every design is Scheherazade-like, telling its own tale. Janet Brown, whose self-titled boutique sold out a recent shipment of seventeen pieces in less than three hours, refers to the 51-year-old Algerian as a "court jeweler." She is reminded of Fulco di Verdura, Coco Chanel's favorite jeweler-an apt comparison, since Chemirik worked at Chanel from the late nineties until 2004.

Chemirik has led many different lives, as his studio in the 20th arrondissement in Paris suggests: It's a cornucopia of North African family portraits, a clay bust, stray chains, and past designs. Straight out of art school he designed costumes for the Opera de Paris. His first production there was Carmen, which, he says, taught him about "the importance of the effect ...