Inside Irene Neuwirth’s Beautiful New Madison Avenue Jewel Box

Neuwirth’s colorful jewels grace one of Shona Heath’s surrealist vitrine sculptures.

Opened in 2014, her Melrose Place boutique in Los Angeles is homey and warm, utterly unlike the spaces where people have traditionally shopped for high jewelry. There are exactly zero tuxedoed men with champagne flutes. Rather, it’s a place where friends and customers can come in for a coffee and a chat, even if they aren’t planning to shop.

To be sure, opening on the Upper East Side hasn’t dampened Neuwirth’s effervescent whimsy. Due west from the new boutique in Central Park is the famous Alice in Wonderland sculpture, and the jeweler and her longtime collaborator, the designer Pam Shamshiri, used it as a touchstone. A 22-foot giraffe by the artist and Neuwirth’s fellow Angeleno Clare Crespo greets passersby from the store’s window. Inside, surrealist plaster sculptures by the London-based artist Shona Heath stand in the eight wall vitrines, while the giant brass palm tree commissioned from the Colombian artist Chris Wolston for the center of the space boasts light-up coconuts.