Thuc Nhi Nguyen | Los Angeles Times (TNS) PARIS — Simone Biles had the perfect accessory planned for her second coronation as Olympic all-around champion. It was better than just a gold medal. Minutes after winning gymnastics’ most coveted title, Biles fastened on a white gold necklace and flashed a diamond-encrusted goat pendant toward the camera.
Janet Heller’s social media pages haven’t been the same since. The Calabasas, Calif.-based jeweler was the mastermind behind Biles’ viral accessory.
Heller designed the piece with the Olympic star and worked with a team of master artisans to hand-drill and hand-set 546 diamonds in white gold shaped like a goat. Janet Heller Fine Jewelry is now taking off like Biles flying through the air on a vault. “It’s just magical, honestly,” Heller said.
After working with Heller on a diamond Olympic rings necklace following the Tokyo Games, Biles reached out at the end of May about making a new piece. She wanted a necklace fitting for the G.O.
A.T. — “Greatest Of All Time.
” They went back and forth discussing the design, tweaking the goat figurine’s leg length, trimming the beard shape and adjusting the horn angle. Once they settled on an idea, the work started. Heller’s team, which includes bench jewelers and craftsmen based in downtown L.
A., was working overtime to get the piece made in five weeks. The entire process for an item of this nature would normally take three or four months, Heller said.
But they had a tim.