Gems of designer jewelry world
Print Edition
GONE are the days when only established jewelry brands could steal a woman’s hearts. Today’s top jewelry designers have both the technical know-how and the creativity to push boundaries and transcend fleeting tends. Shanghai Daily reporter Patsy Yang recently spoke to the creative minds behind two unique jewelry brands — Wouters & Hendrix and Carolina Bucci — both of which have just arrived in the Chinese mainland market.
Wouters & Hendrix
The story of Antwerp based jewelry brand Wouters & Hendrix started at the precious metals’ department at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp.
As students, Katrin Wouters and Karen Hendrix were drawn to each other by the strength of their respective works. The duo started working together after graduation in 1985.
“The goal was to fill the gap between classic jewelry and the cheap supermarket-kitch kind of jewelry. We aim to occupy the niche between innovative jewelry design and classic craftsmanship, putting soul into soulless matter remains the ultimate challenge,” said Wouters, who was recently in town for her jewelry launch at the Trustluxe Shanghai showroom.
Each Wouters & Hendrix collection has its own story, but the connecting threads are five themes the pair come back to again and again: surrealism, humor, romance, nature and contrasts.
“The nice thing of a jewelry piece is that it’s a gift, and so it contains a memory. They hold emotional value,” Wouters said.
Nature is another value that defines the brand. They also try to work with contrasts. “We try combining different materials and shapes. It’s fun to put together two extremes, establishing a tension between them and creating a new story,” Wouters said.
Each creation is a joint effort. “Our work is a combination of the two of us. When a collection is finished, there is no way of telling which piece is Karen’s and which one is from Katrin.”
The duo loves to surprise themselves with adventurous ideas, while constantly adapting old techniques to design unique items. They work with ateliers that specialize in specific techniques and produce their jewels using the best materials and gemstones. Quality is their highest priority.
Craftsmanship and handmade pieces are central to their collections.
They work with goldsmiths in their studio in Antwerp to develop and complete each piece by hand.
“We believe it is important to keep offering the best quality and at the same time remain relevant and creative. As long as we enjoy what we do, we will continue to push boundaries and are excited to further expand our company internationally,” Wouters said.
Carolina Bucci
Born into a family of jewelers in Florence, Italy, Carolina Bucci knew she wanted to be a jewelry designer from an early age.
She doesn’t like to define the concept behind her collection.
“This was a natural process for me. I have always, selfishly, designed jewelry I wanted to wear,” she said.
Her jewelry is a vibrant reinvention of her family’s rich Italian heritage, and it redefines what fine jewelry can be and how it should be worn.
Bucci studied fine arts and jewelry design in New York. Returning to Florence after her studies, she worked alongside local goldsmiths to create her first collection, Woven.
“The pieces are woven on a loom that was used to weave Florentine textiles in the Renaissance period and the loom was modernized to accommodate the gold threads and chains,” Bucci said. The collection has become her trademark.
Silk is one of Bucci’s favorite fabrics, and one she turns to again and again in the designs. “I always used silk to represent gold in my pieces and now I’m even using gold to make it feel like silk,” she said.
“I love silk; it is as precious to me as gold or other materials.
“Also, I celebrated my family heritage in my 1885 collection, which I created to mark 125 years of my family’s business. A part of the collection are links which represent the rollo chains my great grandfather used to make, and this is how Bucci jewelry started.”
Working with the same techniques and tools used by her great-grandfather, the designer continues to explore new methods in her craft, creating pieces that combine the traditions of Florentine artisanship with a distinctly hip and modern sensibility.
Bucci is based in London, where she lives with her husband. Among other accomplishments, she’s been named multiple times on Vanity Fair’s annual “power player” list for the jewelry industry and a selection of her designs is showcased in the permanent jewelry collection of the Palazzo Pitti Museum in Florence.
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