Hasta La Ideas

Jewellery that resembles stove pipes is among body adornments by Dutch fashion design duo Gijs+Emmy to go on show at Amsterdam‘s Stedelijk Museum later this month (+ slideshow).

The Gijs+Emmy Spectacle revisits a sensational collaborative exhibition of work by husband and wife team Gijs Bakker and Emmy van Leersum that was at the Stedelijk Museum in 1967.

“In the late 1960s, Bakker and Van Leersum, both trained jewellery designers, created a furore with their avant-garde jewelry and clothing that fused fashion, design and art,” said a statement from the museum.

The pair’s duct pipe bracelets and curved aluminium collars caused a stir when first exhibited, displayed on live models who moved to electronic music under futuristic lighting.

For this new retrospective, the original exhibition will be recreated with the help of first-hand accounts and consultation from Bakker.

Sculptural jewellery and fashion designs created by the duo between 1967 and 1972 from the museum’s collection and other sources will go on show.

Iconic designs such as Bakker’s purple Stovepipe Necklace and matching bracelet are among the pieces to be exhibited.

Hinged metal collars that curve downwards over the shoulders and upwards around the sides of the face will also feature, alongside gold bangles with sinuous shapes and oversized earrings.

In these images the designs are worn by 1960s model Sonja Bakker, who isn’t related to the designers.

Bakker and Van Leersum met while studying at the Institute of Applied Art in Amsterdam during the 1950s. Bakker went on to found Droog, the avant-garde conceptual Dutch design collective in 1993.

The exhibition opens on 22 February and will continue until 24 August.

The Stedelijk Museum is currently hosting a retrospective of work by Dutch designer Marcel Wanders.

An extension to the museum, which looks a bit like the underside of a kitchen sink, was completed in September 2012 by Benthem Crouwel Architects.

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to open at the Stedelijk Museum appeared first on Dezeen.

London and Montreal designer Emilie F. Grenier has created set of brass tools and a silk outfit for mining feldspar – the most plentiful mineral on Earth.

Emilie F. Grenier‘s Disquiet Luxurians project considers redefining luxury so the process of creating products such as jewellery becomes the expensive factor rather than the material.

She proposes that if craft was to be valued higher than materials, gems for jewellery could be sourced and fashioned from the group of minerals called feldspar instead of rare stones.

Feldspars are formed from crystallised magma and make up around 60% of the earth’s crust.

Grenier’s collection of opulent tools becomes the luxury element of the process as opposed to the mined minerals, as one set of utensils can be used to eventually create many pieces of jewellery.

Her set comprises three chisels with square, hexagonal and oval cutting heads, plus a hexagonal block used to hammer the ends of each tool.

Grenier made the implements from brass, a much more malleable metal than those traditionally used to made chisels such as steel. “Brass is a softer alloy, hence rarely used to craft stone-carving chisels or hammer heads,” she told Dezeen.

She designed a green silk boiler suit to be worn when mining the mineral, which was purposefully made to be difficult to move in.

“Silk chiffon is an incredibly delicate textile with barely any give – potentially one of the worst materials to use for utility clothing,” said Grenier. “In doing so, the post-luxurian mining experience became a geological choreography, and the act of collecting less mechanical, and more unique. This was one of the strategies in this project to add value to the most plentiful mineral on Earth.”

Grenier also produced range of feldspar gems, cut into simple shapes with the help of lapidaries at Holt Gems in London.

“The set of gems was designed with über minimalist shapes to expose the fragility of the stone,” she explained. “Cutting them according to traditional gemmology standards would have rendered them too common, too commercial.”

A chunky ring she made is presented on a rough section of the material beneath a glass bell jar.

“The ring was inspired by art deco jewellery, from a time when women only wore the fanciest pieces at the fanciest soirées, but the jewels actually spent their lives in beautiful vanity cases and became instant heirlooms,” Grenier said. “This was why it was important for me to design a vanity case as well, using a rougher cut of the stone to highlight its provenance, and the lapidary’s craft.”

Grenier completed the project when studying on the Textile Futures course at London’s Central Saint Martins art and design college.

Photography is by Tristan Thomson.

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the world’s most abundant mineral appeared first on Dezeen.

Architect Zaha Hadid has created a set of rings from lattices of gold filigree for Swiss jewellery brand Caspita.

Zaha Hadid‘s first collection of gold jewellery, designed for Caspita, was unveiled yesterday at the architect’s London Gallery.

The designs were inspired by natural cell structures and comprise a double layer of polygons that form a delicate mesh over the finger.

The front of the band is shaped into a claw-like asymmetric point while the other side is shorter.

Made in black, white, yellow and pink gold, some of the rings have diamonds set into sections of the lattice. Bracelets in a similar style also form part of the limited-edition collection, though no images are available yet.

“This feat of entwined geometries reveals its extraordinary sparkle thanks to the skill of the goldsmiths who expertly hand-polish these prodigiously meshed works,” said the team behind the designs.

After its stint at the Zaha Hadid Design Gallery, the jewellery will be shown as part of an installation at Art Basel Miami Beach from 2 to 8 December.

This isn’t the first time Hadid has designed jewellery: she also created a collection for crystal brand Swarovski in 2010.

Here’s the text sent to us by Zaha Hadid Architects:

Zaha Hadid for Caspita

Zaha Hadid offers Caspita her visionary talent by designing two exclusive pieces, a ring and a bracelet, which will be edited in a limited series and launched at the Zaha Hadid Design Gallery in London on 28 November, on show until 2 December during the Caspita pop-up store at the Gallery.

The collection will then move to Art Basel Miami to be showcased in the temporary installation “Colette art DRIVE-THRU at alchemist” from 2 to 8 December. Succumbing to the charm of Caspita, Zaha Hadid dwells for the first time upon goldsmith’s objects.

This unprecedented partnership is the first of Caspita’s project of astounding collaborations between jewellery, architecture, contemporary art and design. Inspired by cellular structures found in nature, these creations harmoniously intensify the brand’s aphorism “See the invisible”.

The unparalleled Swiss craftsmanship makes the creation of these two sibylline jewels possible, a profusion of lattice in filigree produced in black, white, yellow and pink gold set with diamonds or not.

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jewellery for Caspita appeared first on Dezeen.

Two initials are merged so each be read from different angles in this 3D-printed metal jewellery (+slideshow).

Design agency Ultravirgo‘s Mymo service creates 3D monograms by digitally combining any two letters or numbers. “From the front, you see one character,” said the designers. “From the side, you see the other.” The monograms can be 3D-printed as small charms by New York company Shapeways.

Traditionally embroidered on clothing, a monogram is a 2D graphic combining two or more letters to form a logo. Mymo transforms these motifs into a 3D form, to be printed in stainless steel, silver or ceramic.

The steel and ceramic pieces are printed by gluing layers of the powdered materials on top of each other, while the silver designs are cast in a 3D-printed wax mould.

The pendants can be worn as a necklace, linked to a keychain or displayed as an ornament. The Mymo typeface was designed by Ultravirgo founder Patrick Durgin-Bruce.

Here is some more information from the designer:

Mymo reinvents the monogram with 3D-printed typography

Introducing Mymo. A modern, clever monogram that combines any two letters or numbers into a custom typographic sculpture for necklaces, keychains, and ornaments (to start). From the front, you see one character. From the side, you see the other.

Monograms used to be a badge of honor, embroidered on work shirts, towels, and stationery. But with their florid Victorian style and the move to mass production, they were left behind as an ephemeral fashion trend. But we love the concept of letters that carry personal meaning, so we’ve re-invented them.

Twitter may allow 140 characters, but a Mymo makes a statement with just two. We challenge people to decide what two letters or numbers best represent them. Initials? Kids’ initials? The dogs’? Age? Football jersey number? Birthday date? They make the perfect gift for weddings, graduations, housewarmings, holidays, wedding attendant gifts, new babies, mothers, fathers, and just because – allowing anyone to give a gift with personal meaning without needing to know too much about the recipient.

Mymo uses Shapeways to 3D print each item individually on-demand. The finished Mymos are made of sterling silver, stainless steel, or food-grade ceramic. Mymo makes 3D-printed objects more accessible to the public, combining great design with personalisation – without customers needing to learn how to use 3D software.

The Mymo type was designed by Patrick Durgin-Bruce of Ultravirgo, an award-winning graphic design agency in New York City with a penchant for typography. He has also created custom type for the United Nations and the University of Pennsylvania. New typefaces by other designers are in the works for 2014.

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two initials in one pendant appeared first on Dezeen.

This activity-tracking device by former Apple CEO John Sculley’s tech startup Misfit looks more like luxury jewellery than a sports accessory.

The Shine wearable device by Misfit counts steps and tracks activity to estimate the number of calories burnt during a day.

Unlike other activity monitors such as the Nike+ FuelBand and Jawbone Up, the anodised aluminium disc can be attached to clothes, worn around the wrist or tied around the neck using different catches and straps to look like a fashion accessory.

Data collected by the device can be synced with an iPhone by placing it on top of the screen, then the user can set goals of how many steps to walk or calories to burn and graph the results with an app.

Progress towards an activity goal during the day is shown around a ring of lights on the edge of the disc, which illuminate when tapped on the top.

Tapping with two fingers turns the surface into a clock dial, so the user doesn’t need to wear a watch at the same time. The hour is indicated with a constant light and the minute by a flashing dot.

First launched this summer, the products have recently starting selling in UK department stores John Lewis and Selfridges.

The design joins a growing line of wearable gadgets for monitoring activity that includes the FuelBand, Up and miCoach Smart Run by Adidas. It’s a less extreme way to collect data than Tim Cannon’s Circadia 1.0 device, which he had implanted under his skin to monitor his body temperature.

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monitor by Misfit appeared first on Dezeen.