Taking Liberties with Arts and Crafts Jewelry

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Knox Arts and Crafts Necklace

The necklace pictured is from the ‘Cymric’ line of jewelry sold at the London retailer and design firm Liberty & Co.  ‘Cymric’ jewelry capitalized on the aesthetics of the Arts and Crafts movement, but disregarded most of its founding principles.

Liberty & Co. aided in spreading the Arts and Crafts jewelry style across greater echelons of British society. Launched in 1899, the ‘Cymric’ line featured the typical characteristics of Arts and Crafts movement jewelry and appeared to be handmade, but was actually mass-produced. While some details still required hand finishing, cheaper machine processes were used whenever possible. Manufactured by Haseler of Birmingham, these high quality pieces were a fraction of the cost of their handmade Arts and Crafts equivalents.

Much of the line’s success can be attributed to the painter, teacher and designer of jewelry and metalwork, Archibald Knox (1864-1933). From 1897 to 1912 Knox designed not only jewelry but also a wide array of silver, pewter, carpets and textile designs for Liberty. As Liberty’s chief designer, Knox infused the Arts and Crafts aesthetic with Celtic inspiration from his native Isle of Man. His elegant adaptation of Celtic interlace became one of the most distinctive characteristics of the line. ‘Cymric’ jewels were produced in both gold and silver and often set with turquoise, blister pearl or mother-of-pearl or decorated with enamel. This blister pearl, opal and gold necklace ca. 1900, designed by Archibald Knox for Liberty and Co. illustrates many of the key characteristics, materials and techniques found within the ‘Cymric’ line of jewelry.

The chain and gold pendants on this delicate necklace were mass produced, while the setting of the opals as well as the pearls required expert hand finishing. Though not entirely handcrafted, the integrity of the design attests to the clever hand of its creator.

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Arts and Crafts Jewelry, An Introduction

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Arts and Crafts Sybil Dunlop Kilt Plaid Brooch

Pictured above is a Scottish kilt plaid brooch by Sybil Dunlop, a designer highly regarded for her Arts and Crafts jewelry of the 1920s and 1930s. Made of silver, cabochon stones, and done in a Scottish design, this piece adheres to the Arts and Crafts principles that have their roots in the 1860s. In this post we will explore the background of the Arts and Crafts movement and how it applies to jewelry.

The British Arts and Crafts movement flourished between 1860 and 1910. Inspired by the writings of John Ruskin (1819-1900) and spearheaded by William Morris (1834-1896), the movement was a reaction against mass-production and mechanization. Distraught over the impoverished state of the decorative arts as well as the conditions in which they were produced, those involved in the Arts and Crafts movement aimed to both reform design and reinstate the dignity and importance of the individual craftsman. While the Arts and Crafts style and philosophy were successfully adhered to a majority of the decorative arts, producing jewelry within the movement’s aims proved to be quite challenging.

In accordance with the philosophy of the movement, a jewel was to be designed, created and decorated from start to finish by a single craftsman. The movement not only shunned the use of mechanization but also held disdain for the practice of specialization within any given field. While a successful piece of furniture could be achieved within these parameters, they proved to be quite detrimental when applied to the art of jewelry making. Historically fine jewels are often the result of many specialized craftsmen (lapidaries, enamellers, chasers, engravers, modelers etc.) and the collaboration of these specialties are most exemplified in the jewelry of the Renaissance era.

The Arts and Crafts jewelers aimed to create handmade jewelry of artistic rather than intrinsic value. Silver was preferred over gold and while faceted stones were rarely used, diamonds never were. Cabochon or uncut stones enlivened the designs while recalling Medieval tastes. The natural qualities of the materials were celebrated and mother-of-pearl, turquoise matrix and unique baroque pearls were some of the jeweler’s favorites. The nineteenth century revival of Renaissance and Medieval enameling techniques were also hugely important to Arts and Crafts jewelry. Not only did the traditional non-precious material embody the sentiments of the movement, it also afforded the jeweler unlimited artistic possibilities.

The Guild of Handicraft produced some of the finest examples of Arts and Crafts jewelry. Founded in 1888 by Charles Robert Ashbee (1863-1942) the Guild of Handicraft was both a workshop as well as a school. Initially the Guild concentrated on woodcarving and metalworking but in 1891 the first jewelry classes were offered. The early pieces produced by the Guild were predominantly silver, quite large in size and unashamed of their unrefined handmade appearance. By the turn of the century, many more conventionally trained craftsmen had joined the workshop and the Guild began to produce increasingly more elaborate jewelry. In keeping with the characteristics of other Arts and Crafts jewelers, defining features of the pieces produced by the Guild of Handicraft include hand-beaten metal surfaces, the use of traditional enamel and cabochon stones as well as the preference for decorative themes derived from a romanticized pre-industrial past.

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Metropolitan Opera Star Olga Peretyatko Wearing ALVR

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Here is the fabulous Olga Peretyatko following her acclaimed debut performance as Elvira in I Puritani at The Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Flanked by her husband Maestro Michele Mariotti, the conductor of I Puritani and Peter Gelb, the General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera, she shines in an 1885 Siberian amethyst and diamond necklace and earrings from A La Vieille Russie. Encore! Encore!

Photo credit: Bloomberg

ALVR Blog – Finding (Jeweled) Nemo: Kaston’s Fish Art

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Contemporary Gold and Enamel Fish Brooches

Outside of a select circle of artists, jewelry aficionados and world-class violinists, the name Henryk Kaston probably does not ring any bells. Children and their parents, however, know the names Nemo, Marlin, Dory, and Gill, the world over thanks to the enormously popular 2003 Disney/Pixar film Finding Nemo. The characters have since become synonymous with their respective species but two decades before they were swimming on the big screen as animated art, Kaston gave them just as much life and personality as wearable art in dazzling precious materials.

Kaston’s Clownfish brooch is rendered in gold with bright white diamonds and black enamel stripes. The precise proportions and minute details, such as the golden scales visible through the bright orange guilloché enamel, attest to his extensive research in marine biology. Kaston’s Emperor Angelfish (Pomacanthus imperator) is rendered in gold with a cabochon sapphire eye, warm yellow diamonds, bright white diamonds, vibrant royal blue and black enamel. While the forgetful character of Dory (voiced by Ellen DeGeneres) was a Pacific Regal Blue Tang, their flat, wide form as well as their coloring is very similar. It is easy to see why both the animators as well as Kaston were drawn to these similar fish species. The Moorish Idol (Zanclus cornutus) aka Gill (voiced by Willem Dafoe) has been one of the most iconic coral reef fish as it is a favorite of photographers and bathroom decorators alike. Kaston’s Moorish Idol rendered in gold with a tiger-eye, warm yellow diamonds, bright white diamonds and black enamel is striking in both its coloration and bold form. The dramatic crested dorsal fin is an attractive form that catches the eye, be it animated or bejeweled.

As a young man with only $5 in his pocket, Henryk Kaston emigrated from Poland to New York City during World War II. He went on to become a violinist with the Metropolitan Opera, an inventor, one of the finest bow-makers of all time as well as a master jeweler.  The ever-modest Kaston once recalled “I’m not really sure that I want to be known as just a bowmaker or a jeweler or a violinist. All these things are equally important to me; but I’ve never felt a need to advertise myself”.  Regardless of the medium, his talents are evident in his refined work. While the musical instrument community chided Kaston for not solely devoting himself to bowmaking, his friend Salvador Dali, the world renowned surrealist artist and master jeweler, encouraged him to also focus on creating fine jewelry.

Kaston produced a limited collection of Dali’s earlier fine jewelry designs, most notably the iconic crying eye, honeycomb heart, the Marilyn Monroe lips and the Tristan and Isolde brooches. The Dali jewels are Kaston’s most well known pieces of jewelry, but as these fish brooches attest, he was much more than just a producer of someone else’s designs.

Tropical Fish Hobbyist 1 Tropical Fish Hobbyist 2

In their extensive research, the Pixar team surely came across the work of Dr. Herbert Axelrod and his publication The Tropical Fish Hobbyist.  The world-renowned scientist and tropical fish expert started the publication in 1952 and it continues on today. In the early 1980s, Dr. Axelrod gave Henryk Kaston many books on tropical fish for him to peruse. The vibrant beauty and natural grace of the exotic fish inspired Kaston to again turn his expert hand towards jewelry. He scrupulously studied the nuances, patterns and characteristics of the fish that he found the most captivating. Axelrod applauded Kaston’s bejeweled fish and in 1986, three of his brooches, photographed in an aquarium, graced the cover of the November issue of TFH.  

The playful but shy nature of the Ocellaris Clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris) aka Marlin (the fretful father voiced by Albert Brooks) and Nemo (the rebellious yet loving son voiced by Alexander Gould) inspired the story of Finding Nemo. Andrew Stanton, the co-writer and director of the film had always been drawn to marine life and had toyed around with the idea of creating an animated underwater world for years. The plotline fell into place when he later came across a photograph of two Clownfish peeking out from an anemone in an issue of National Geographic. They appeared to be playing peek-a-boo and Stanton was enthralled. We will never know if the Clownfish also served as the initial inspiration for Kaston’s line of fish jewelry, but of the thousands of species of tropical fish, it is notable that both Kaston and the Pixar animators were drawn to the Clownfish, the Angelfish and the Moorish Idol. Despite the vastly different mediums, both Kaston and the Pixar animators achieved the perfect balance of faithful biological representation while giving each fish a distinct and charming personality.

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Scottish Sock Daggers

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Victorian Scottish Sgian Dubh Brooch

In traditional Scottish highland dress a knife called a sgian dubh, (prounounced skeen doo), is worn in a sock. Pictured above, a sgian dubh handle has been cleverly repurposed into a beautiful brooch.

In Gaelic sgian means knife or dagger, and dubh means black. In this context, black is thought to mean hidden, or secret. This conclusion stems from the antecedent of the sgian dubh – the sgian achlais, (pronounced ochles), a larger dagger concealed in a jacket sleeve dating to the 17th and 18th centuries. Upon visiting someone’s home, visitors were expected to reveal their weapons.

Sgian dubh brooches resulted from the Scottish Romantic period in the nineteenth century, a revival movement inspired by the historical novels of Sir Walter Scott and King George IV’s visit to Scotland in 1822. The King’s image in traditional highland garb and a historically-themed pageant helped cement Scottish national identity, uniting all Scots through a distinctive, national dress.

Queen Victoria, too, ever the tastemaker of her day, greatly contributed to Scottish romanticism, with ornamental sgian dubhs and other Scottish daggers peaking during her period of rule.

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