THE JOURNAL
Mr GregYüna in New York, 21 May 2022. Photograph by Mr ZachBoisjoly
Drake. Lil Yachty. Shy Glizzy. This is not a rundown of the current Billboard hip-hop chart but a snapshot of jewellery designer Mr Greg Yüna’s clientele. A New York native who learnt his trade in Manhattan’s famous Diamond District, the talented Yüna worked at his uncle’s kiosk before setting up his namesake label back in 2017 – and it wasn’t long before the music world’s biggest magpies came flocking.
What draws them – along with a good chunk of the NBA – to Yüna’s designs, you ask? A quick glance at his back catalogue should give you your answer. From black-diamond sneaker pendants to solid gold Moses rings, his pieces are playful, eye-catching and generously encrusted – perfect for those with extravagant taste and money to spend. But more importantly, he’s game for a creative challenge, happy to whip up whatever one-of-a-kind, wild and wacky treasures his clients commission or even present them with something unexpected. “Sometimes you have to risk a couple of bucks,” he says. “You design something, you show it to them. If they like it, they like; if they don’t, you break it back down again. You can lose money – but if you hit, you hit.”
That said, don’t mistake it all for flash. Yüna’s nickname of “The Cleanest” encapsulates the pride he takes in nailing the nitty gritty of his craft. “If I had to sum up the brand in three words, it would be: Attention. To. Detail. It’s very easy to hide sloppiness with diamonds because it’s just so mesmerising and glittery and blingy. But when you sit there and actually look at the pieces, there’s a lot going on underneath.”
Where once getting your hands on a Greg Yuna creation was a tricky task indeed, now those who frequent MR PORTER can join the ranks of the hip-hop and sports elite with our exclusive In America collection. To mark the occasion, we invited the man himself to share his jewellery icons past and present, from iced-out hip-hop legends to an Old Hollywood icon.
01.
Run DMC
Run-DMC, circa 1985. Photograph by Mr Michael Ochs/Getty Images
“Run DMC are just iconic in the music world. They damn near started this whole hip-hop situation. And obviously they’re from Queens, New York, and I’m from Queens, New York. I was young when they were out – I remember being aged 10 or 11 and watching the video for ‘Down With The King’ and seeing them in these wild rope chains and thinking, ‘Wow, these guys are superstars! What is that chain? Like, a million dollars?’ They just looked like money.”
02.
Mr T
Mr T in The A-Team, circa 1984. Photograph by NBCUniversal via Getty Images
“Mr T was just blinged out. Always. He’s an icon. He used to have the mohawk and the chains and every time he was out that was his outfit. No shirt? Chains. Tank top? Chains. And he just wore everything at once – 60 to 70 pieces on him, if not more.”
03.
Dame Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Taylor and Mr Richard Burton at the Academy Awards, Los Angeles, 7 April 1970. Photograph by Mr Michael Ochs/Getty Images
“Elizabeth Taylor had one of the biggest engagement rings back in the day – 33 carats, if I’m not mistaken. She was on early! A lot of the time, those kinds of stones, you might wear them in ballrooms here and there, but she rocked that thing every day. If she were alive today and I had the chance to design something for her, I’d do something elegant but big. Maybe a 50-carat pink diamond that flows out into a diamond necklace. Something sexy.”
04.
Biggie Smalls
Notorious BIG in Los Angeles, 25 February 1997. Photograph byMs LoriShepler/Los Angeles Times via Contour RA by Getty Images
“If I could design a custom piece for anyone, dead or alive, it would probably be Biggie. He really started the whole Jesus piece thing. Now everybody’s rocking them. We’ve kind of evolved from that old style, so I would’ve loved to have remixed it and get him into a new Jesus piece. And a new Rolex! He was a big guy and back than he had the 36mm Rolex, which is what everyone wore because it’s the only size they had. I remember him being this chunky dude with this little watch on him, so to see him in a bigger one would be cool.”
05.
Princess Diana
Diana, Princess Of Wales at a gala evening in aid of cancer research, London, 20 November 1995. Photograph by Mr Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images
“If I could borrow from anyone’s jewellery collection, it would be Princess Diana. You got some hefty stuff there. And, if you think about Princess Diana, she was swaggy. We didn’t understand her swag until now. This is by far my favourite piece she ever wore. The stone itself is so oversized… but she wore it in a way that had such grace. It never came across gaudy – it was always so tasteful. She was way beyond her time as far as style and her eye.”
06.
Mr Floyd Mayweather
Mr Floyd Mayweather Jr. at StaplesCenter, Los Angeles, 6 March 2019. Photograph by Mr Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images
“Floyd is a diamond man. And a client. I’ve designed a lot for him. He’ll go for anything from an iced-out Cuban necklace to diamond rings. Big chunky stuff. But then he’ll also do tennis necklaces that are three carats each. One of my all-time favourite pieces I’ve ever created – a dollar-sign necklace with a 37-carat yellow canary stone in the middle – was for him.”
Answers have been edited for length and clarity