Showing posts with label florian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label florian. Show all posts

August 1, 2010

Memory Lane


Adorn London ran a sweet, and timely, piece on holiday jewellery last week. The website's editor, Juliet, asked various contributors to wax lyrical about the pieces they packed for their hols, or – in my case – my brother's wedding in San Sebastian, Spain. Click here to read the full story.

Here's what I wrote:
"I’m taking five bone bangles from India, a pair of marcasite drop earrings from my Spanish great grandma, my great aunty’s gold wedding ring (worn on my left forefinger), a gold and black ‘hip hop’ chain necklace by Florian and my trusty gold hoop earrings."

This is the best I could manage on photos:

To elaborate: the earrings belonged to great grandma, then grandma, then mum and now me. My brother was married in the church in the grounds of the school that my great grandma, grandma and mum all attended. It's on a hill overlooking the beautiful city of San Sebastian in the Basque country. The earrings are silver metal embellished with marcasite - they look a bit like lace – and it meant a lot to me to wear them on such a special day.


From the sublime to the ridiculous... I bought these bangles in various Delhi markets when I went to visit my friend Chrissy in India a few years back. I love them because not only do they look fab and elicit lots of compliments, they did well to make it back to the UK in one piece. Kind-hearted Chrissy had adopted two street dogs and these bangles were the only souvenirs of my month-long trip to escape the strays' obsession with swallowing everything in sight.

My proudest purchase had been some gorgeous North Indian beaded necklaces until they disappeared into thin air one day. I found the the beads – minus the string, and bleached by the sun – up on the roof a week later after. How they got there, and the intestinal odyssey they underwent, needs no further elaboration here.

June 16, 2010

Philippe Sajet

You wait forever for some horn jewellery to come along and then a whole bunch turns up at the same time. Hot on the heels of yesterday's post about Florian's new men's collection comes this ring by Dutch jeweller/artist Philippe Sajet. I can't find a lot about Sajet online (except a Facebook account which I've just messaged) but going on this, I think we should be friends.

Ring made from water buffalo horn and gold, 2003

More to come as my online stalking bears fruits...

June 15, 2010

Boys In Jewels Part 3 - Florian

Florian is another one of my very favourite jewellery designers. He's just sent me the look book for his new Spring/Summer men's collection and it's safe to say this is a winner. Forget notions of tacky bling for boys, or unfounded fears of looking effeminate – this stuff's unabashedly masculine, albeit with a soft centre.

Horn necklace and bracelet set: polished cow horn, rope and leather cord, rhodium plated brass chain


Horn necklace: natural and polished antler, polished cow horn and rope

Leather cord and chain necklace

Horn pendant necklace with polished cow horn and rope

Rope necklaces


Polished horn pendants with snake chain (left) and leather cord

February 26, 2010

Fashion Jewellery: Catwalk and Couture

Call me lazy, but for reasons that will be revealed, time is of the essence. Putting my considerable talent for procrastination to good use, I've left it to the last minute to master the art of blogging and get this thing up and running as the undisputed online authority on all things jewellery. Yep, in precisely 1 hour I'll be emailing lots of influential people about a book I've written, and a little launch do I'm having next week, so for this reason – and this reason only – I'm committing the cardinal journalism sin and re-hashing a press release. Even worse - I'm re-hashing a press release I probably helped write, about myself.

Fashion Jewellery is created with the catwalk and couture in mind, and is characterized by its creativity and originality. It is arguably the most exciting field in fashion today.

Arranged by designer, this is the first book to showcase contemporary catwalk and couture jewellery, profiling 33 international fashion jewellers who combine traditional techniques and ultra-modern methods to create this new style of jewellery.

The book features exclusive interviews, never-seen-before sketches and specially commissioned photography. Collaborations with leading fashion designers and brands such as Lanvin, Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen and Comme des Garçons, as well as collections for directional fashion stores such as Colette and 10 Corso Como are all discussed.

Adams believes that the allure of fashion jewellery is the endless scope for re-invention and its applicability to different forms. The sheer range of materials, interpretations, philosophies and – importantly – humour, also make it endlessly fresh and exciting. Showcasing skilled craftsmanship and an often limited-edition approach fashion jewellery harnesses the spirit of couture for the 21st century.

Ahem. Here's some spreads to lighten things up.


Photo: Harold David, Jewellery: Michelle Jank


Photo: Mark Borthwick, Jewellery: Bless


Photos: Florian, Jewellery: Florian


Jewellery: Atelier 11 for AF Vandevorst