A glittering life

She has fairy-tale good looks and lives in a 36-bedroom fairy-tale castle in snow-covered hills near Gstaad, Switzerland. But this young and beautiful countess has decided that her life was not going to be just a series of glittering balls. Her life was going to be lit by the glitter of jewelry – but jewelry that she would create into a work of art for the world to see.

Because Countess Harumi Klossowska de Rola inherited more than just a title from her father – the late great French painter Balthus, who died in February this year at the age of 95. The 29-year-old Harumi (which means "spring beauty" in Japanese) inherited his artistry, boosted by the equally superb genes of her Japanese-born mother, Setsuko Itseda, also a painter.

Having been born to the right parents, whose combination seemed designed to yield an offspring of such beauty and talent, Harumi, however, does not think a life of leisure is her birthright.

"I believe everybody needs to work otherwise there is no money," says Harumi, whose father’s paintings command a whopping $6 million each. " We are not one of those rich families that are able to live without working, especially now that my father is gone."

She doesn’t like to be like her half-brother, whom she claims lives by selling paintings of her father.

"If my father gave me a painting, it would be impossible for me to sell it," she exclaims.

Harumi was in Manila recently to look into setting up a jewelry workshop with craftsmen from Bulacan and Cebu. Manila was not a spot on the globe, which she picked at random.

An uncle, Koh Tamura, runs a thriving business in Manila, where he lives with his Filipina wife Cecile and their three children (the eldest of whom, Cy, is a child genius).

"I had some troubles in China and India (where I have a workshop) and then my Uncle Koh visited my mother in Switzerland and she showed him some of my drawings. He said it would be nice if they were made in the Philippines," recalled Harumi over lunch of soba and sushi (her favorite, though, is Italian food, and her specialty is Moroccan cuisine).

On her wrist was a multi-strand siopao pearl bracelet accented by sterling silver. The clasp of the bracelet is a Chinese button, also in silver. If sold, the bracelet would go for about $350, she points out.

Koh Tamura tells his niece over lunch: "The craftsmanship of the Filipino is one big advantage of setting up shop in the Philippines. In other countries, they are used to mass production. They work well if machines do the work for them. Here in the Philippines, every piece of work is given much attention."

Since she started designing and manufacturing jewelry, Harumi has held exhibits in Geneva, New York, Paris and London. At one time, she sold 72 pieces of her jewelry. At another time, she held a joint exhibit of her jewelry and her other’s paintings and donated the proceeds to a United Nations scholarship program.

A former ramp model for John Galliano himself, Harumi has made jewelry for the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, Liv Tyler, Madonna, Sharon Stone, Elle Mcpherson, Iman and Japan’s Empress Michiko.

Harumi’s jewelry first shone on the international stage in 1996, in Geneva. Reporting on the event, CNN said, "Vibrantly-colored silk threads woven with glistening semi-precious stones gives ethnic allure to the jewelry of Geneva’s Harumi Klossowska de Rola."

The Asian-inspired earrings that Harumi presented in her first exhibit (which she co-produced with a Thai friend) ranging from $425 to $2,600 were sold out.

Harumi, who confesses to having been fascinated by stones even as a child ("I would pick up a lot of them!") used a lot of understated colors, infused by semi-precious tones like turquoise, garnet and corals. Ever present even then were the Chinese satin buttons that we learned were bought by Harumi’s mother during her honeymoon around Asia in 1967.

Harumi also paints on the side, "To be able to maintain my two horses," she jokes. She says she gets along only with male horses.

The beauty of Harumi’s jewelry is no mystery, for she herself is the combination of many gems. Aside from getting the most of her mixed lineage, she has lived in the most picturesque places in the world. The grand chalet near Gstaad where she lives now (she shuttles between Los Angeles and Geneva) used to be a hotel, which Victor Hugo frequented.

"It is the grandest chalet in Switzerland," says Harumi’s aunt Cecile. "That is why she has to work hard."

Harumi speaks French, Italian, Spanish, English and Japanese. So, in what language does she dream?

"In French, but when I’m in Italy, I dream in Italian."

Harumi also speaks a little Filipino, because the family driver and maid are Filipinos.

"My mother spoke to me in Japanese when I was young. She would try to give me a Japanese education. She gave me tea ceremony lessons, calligraphy lessons. I had to wear a kimono, which was not easy for me. For religion, they made me choose because my father was Catholic and my mother is Buddhist. I chose to be Buddhist but I also practise the religion of Indian Americans.

"I’m really half-half," she laughs.

Only such a multi-faceted person could produce such multifaceted works of art, a mirror of their beautiful creator.