Forget the archetypal pearl necklace consisting of just one or more strands. Drawing on an in-depth knowledge of materials and processes, five contemporary designers have freed it from its shackles and liberated it by placing it in an original, humorous or ironic context.

By Sandrine Merle.

 

 

1. “The inspiration came from a pearl necklace that my mother gave me and that I never wore,” explains Lin Cheung. “It was gathering dust on a shelf, so I transformed it into a string of pearls that I now wear.” Each pearl is meticulously hand-sculpted into a link.

 

2. The approach of Ambroise Degenève may at first seem brutal, he crushes the rows of round pearls with a hammer to remake them as tubular ones made of iron mesh. Their crisp and sparkling surface (thanks to the mixture with gypsum) is reminiscent of a frosted floor.

 

3. On Shinji Nakaba‘s necklace, the tiny Japanese beads are sawn, filed and sculpted into incredibly expressive faces or skulls.

 

4. Caroline Broadhead’s flexible fishnet necklaces resemble scarves, and are part of her practice of “wearable objects” and textile works. Her meticulous arrangement of tiny glass beads achieves a magnificent trompe l’oeil of a necklace made of gray pearls. The pearls within the pearls, a mise en abyme that questions the meaning of value and tradition.

 

5. Melanie Georgacopoulos’ work is completely devoted to the modernization of the pearl necklace, either for her brand or for Tasaki. With this in mind, she has cut the pearl, partially covered it with gold, integrated it into large bib necklaces or scarves, or inserted it into mother-of-pearl plates. For her latest creation, she has hybridized the twisted pearl with mother-of-pearl links to reproduce the necklace she inherited from her aunt. Remarkable.

 

Banner image : Ambroise Degenève

 

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