Bejewelled homes: how jewelers entering the territory of object design
Jewelers are boldly entering the territory of object design – and turning used items into extraordinary works of high art
Eschewing the customary lavish presentation at Paris Couture Week in January, Repossi did things a little differently. The Place Vendôme jewellery house had editors cross the city to show a new collection alongside antique cornicing and hand-painted panelling in the ateliers of the historic woodworking specialist, Féau Boiseries. It was worth the trip, for a capsule collection that pushed the house’s distinctive design codes firmly into new territory.
‘Jewels for the Home’ is a collaboration with the design brand Invisible Collection, whose co-founder, Isabelle Dubern Mallevays described the project as "a celebration not only of Repossi's heritage but also of the vibrant creative dialogue connecting design and jewellery." Created by award-winning designers, each handcrafted piece was inspired by a Repossi signature; the architect Charles Zana transposed the points and curves of the Antifer ring into a grooved walnut table lamp, while Louise Liljencrantz looked to the abstract geometry of the Berbere earring to inspire a wood veneer and red leather jewelry box. Elsewhere, Los Angeles designer Courtney Applebaum reinterpreted the coiled gold Blast ring in a hand mirror dripping with Hollywood glamour, while the floating diamonds of the Serti Sur Vide line became a set of glass and steel nesting tables by London-based Campbell-Rey.
Designed for the elegant residence of one of Repossi’s chic customers (but not only), the collection is a continuation of a dialogue with the art world which began with MoMA in 2020, followed by the Centre Pompidou. "We have always maintained a close connection with creative spheres, drawing inspiration from contemporary and modern artists, as well as minimalist architecture and design in its broadest sense," says Repossi CEO Anne de Vergeron.
The jewellery-homewares crossover is not a new one. The French silverware house Christofle, currently the subject of an exhibition at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris, has been creating both jewellery and tableware for nearly 200 years. After working with artists and designers including Man Ray, Andrée Putman, and Karl Lagerfeld, in 2023 it teamed up with the Paris jewellery designer Aurélie Bidermann. The resulting tableware and jewellery collection is inspired by twists of brioche — imagine the chicest of fantasy dinner parties, where thick plaits of silver encircle wrists and fingers at a table decked with braid-edged matte porcelain.
Buccellati may not be as well-known for its art objects and silverware as it is jewellery and watches, but they are made to the same high levels of craftsmanship. To celebrate its return to the TEFAF art fair in March, the brand showed a poppy table centrepiece using ancient embossing and chasing techniques; a clear sign of the importance of silverware to the Italian heritage house.
For Charlotte Chesnais, the serpentine candle holders she designed in collaboration with Loro Piano in 2022 was more a creative flex than stretch. The former Balenciaga designer views her sculptural jewels as "jewelry objects"; and frequently creates sculptural objects for her store on Paris’s Left Bank and larger-scale sculptures for her presentations. For Delfina Delettrez, Fendi hieress and an avant-garde jewellery designer in her own right, the OBJETSDEVIE solid silver homewares line was a chance to marry technical innovation with whimsical humour. A silver ice cream cone sits, on its own stand, alongside a silver reusable coffee cup and a teabag-shaped silver infuser, in a line that blurs the boundaries between art and design and renders the quotidian, extraordinary.
After launching a collection of glass shakers during the pandemic, Beth Hutchens of FoundRae has since expanded the Vertus Collectibles collection to include other homewares, reflecting the symbolism and spirituality of her jewellery line. "What makes a home boils down to the energy, the spirit, the love. A warm home with good energy needs to be cultivated," she says. Hutchens intends her Collectibles to "inspire and empower" those who use them, as an expression of personality and intention structured around the same tenets and qualities that feature in her cult jewels, worn on the body.
For Orit Elhanati, who works with the artist Conie Vallese on an evolving jewellery and cutlery collection, designing outside of jewellery was "a continuation of my creative practice. It was interesting to put beauty first while designing everyday objects." All pieces share common hallmarks of both artists — organic forms, texture, femininity — and to see them played out just as beautifully in a silver fork set with diamonds and spinels as a flower necklace, is energising. "Silver was a new material for me," she continues. "I've been thinking about why I was drawn to it as an artist. It can take texture well, so we have handprints here and there." Elsewhere, the hand of the maker is also felt in the charming 18th century-inspired porcelain of Alix D Reynis, which makes for a clean white canvas for her delicate jewellery.
When a designer successfully extends their aesthetic into a new realm, it can be a beautiful and coherent extension of the brand. Rosh Mahtani, founder and creative director of cult London jewellery house Alighieri, launched Alighieri Casa last summer, bringing one of the strongest aesthetics in the business to the table. Mahtani took candlelight as a starting point, with all its connotations of comfort, ritual and spirituality: "the lighting of a candle is an incredibly spiritual practice for me… I wanted to create our own Alighieri candlesticks to honour its importance, inviting people to build their own universe of totemic formations and spiritual practice," she says. Pebbles of molten metal hold candles, alongside cutlery rooted in tribal hunting tools. "Food and jewellery are a universal language," she continues, "they both have a way of bringing people together." One can easily imagine the pleasure of a curl of salty butter on a carved knife, elevating the everyday and banishing the mundane. Pieces with meaning, whether worn on the body or used in the home.
Техt by Kate Matthams
