Anthropology
What we choose to decorate ourselves with has always changed with the fashions, both short term and long-term as materials, methods and cultures have evolved.
The remaining objects are a social history
BEST RING EDGE
In a response to a university job working in "fast fashion" retail where I was able to see a little behind the scenes, I was moved to look into hand made and couture garments. Epitomised by details Schiaparelli used in the 1930s commissioning specialised artisans to make buttons which were really works of art. I re-made humble buttons from vintage clothing, "fossilised" as precious wearable jewels.
BUTTON DOWN COLLAR
Detachable collars were intended to make washing easier, often made from different materials like linen or even rubber-stiff collars were favoured before WWI. Attached to their clothes to "enhance" their look, does this make them a form of jewellery? This trompe l'oeil collar intends to converge fashion and jewellery using "fossilised" buttons no longer functional as a fastener, solely decorative.
PANTHERA LEO COLLAR
Georgian furniture embellishments reinterpreted as body adornment. Shown in Paris as Winner for Madame Figaro's White Swan competition for Alternative Wedding jewellery.
BEETLE EARRINGS
Neo-Egyptian based design imagining the 1920's discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb
AMULET
protective shapes from ancient cultures used to adorn body and beloved beasts