L’Officiel Malaysia – July 2019

L’Ofciel Bijoux 69

place where men went to buy jewellery for women. I, on the other

hand, wanted to create jewellery that was more in tune with a

person’s style. So breaking out of that pattern and finding a place

where my jewellery truly belonged was quite tough.

You’ve always been experimental in your designs and

materials. Is there something you haven’t done that you

want to try?

Not really, but that doesn’t mean that I’ve tried everything. I’ve

always been fascinated by the incredible amount of craftsmanship

and skill that go into jewellery-making, so over the years I may

have incorporated nearly every technique there is into my work.

I’ve done engraving, enamelling, and used unique materials like

ceramic. In that respect, I’m open to what may come, but every

now and then, I try to get ahead of the trend as well.

You mean in your material selection?

Precisely. I’m always looking for new materials that aren’t

typically being used in fine jewellery. I’ve had pieces made

with elements that were unheard of, for instance, from silver

obsidians—I sold a silver obsidian ring to Madonna once—to

fossilised dinosaur bones. The most important thing is that

there’s got to be an attraction for it.

Let’s talk about your latest Dynamite collection. What’s

the story behind it?

It’s a contemplation of the world we’re living in right now. It

started with Brexit, to be honest, when we’re all like “wow,

that’s weird, why did we do that?” It’s actually a preface to the

trilogy comprising the Dynamite, Jitterbug and Vertigo chapters.

There’s this huge uncertainty over what’s happening and what’s

to come, so Dynamite is about blowing it all up and eventually

rebuilding it into something new. The idea here is to put the

remaining bits and pieces together, turning to nature to hatch

new kinds of bugs, which is how we get the horse-fly, cuckoo

bee, bull beetle-inspired jewellery for Jitterbug—they all sound

like make-believe creations. The series culminate in Vertigo,

which is about this new world that needs some getting used to.

Stephen Webster