Malakan × Clairamor: Fine Jewelry, Photographed to Shine

Overview

Malakan is a Fresno custom jewelry workshop that has been “breaking the rules of traditional jewelry manufacturing” since 1938. Under the banner “Made Without Rules,” Malakan works behind the scenes for jewelers, handcrafting custom pieces for their customers, and the workshop says jewelers have trusted it for more than 80 years.

Clairamor is a lab-grown diamond engagement ring and fine jewelry brand, with the line “Ethical. Lab grown. Beautiful.” This shoot photographed rings, necklaces, earrings and bracelets for Malakan × Clairamor.

The challenge

Jewelry is one of the hardest things to photograph well. The pieces are small, reflective and easy to lose in a frame, yet the images have to feel luxurious enough to sell them. The brief called for visuals with “education and sophistication” as the tone and “high production” values, in the spirit of high-end fashion brands like David Yurman, plus a library of imagery and companion video that would show rings, necklaces, earrings and bracelets on a person across a range of moods, from casual to formal.

Our approach

We treated it like a fashion editorial, with the jewelry as the hero.

• Creative planning (October–November 2023). The team developed a creative treatment, then held a test-jewelry session on November 16 and a wardrobe, hair and makeup meeting on November 17. We locked in a neutral color palette so nothing would compete with the metal and stones; soft-glam makeup; neutral, almond-shaped nails; and outfits that move from casual to business casual to formal.
• One day, three sets (December 4, 2023). We built the day around three backdrops: a clean white wall, an exposed brick wall and a soft pink fabric set. A run-of-show paired every look with specific pieces (necklaces first, then rings, earrings and full stacks) and switched the hair from down to up for the dressier looks, so each change gave us a new set of images.
• Shooting for detail and for story. For every look we shot wide, styled portraits and then moved in tight: macro hand shots for rings, collarbone crops for necklaces, and small lifestyle moments like a champagne pour and a martini that make the jewelry feel lived in, not posed.
• One shoot, stills and motion. Video was captured on the same set, so the photographs, a sizzle video and short-form social Reels share one look.

Deliverables

• 309 edited photographs, each delivered in both color and black & white (618 files total), as high-resolution JPGs.
• Coverage across multiple wardrobe looks (casual tees and denim, a corset top, a tailored blazer, a black evening dress and a satin open-back top) and all three sets, from full-length portraits to macro jewelry detail.
• Companion video from the same shoot: a sizzle video in 30- and 60-second versions (delivered December 21, 2023) and seven short-form social Reels, one for each look and jewelry combination (delivered January 15, 2024). A color-graded sequence of all usable footage was also delivered.