Louisa Guinness Gallery is pleased to present Things That I Love: Discovered, curated by Annabel Davidson opening Thursday December 2 nd and running until December 22 nd at 45 Conduit Street.
For the past several years Louisa Guinness Gallery has presented the series Things That I Love: a thoughtful selection of work curated by director Louisa Guinness of designers and gallery artists. This year, Louisa Guinness Gallery have invited Annabel Davidson, editor of Vanity Fair on Jewellery and the Telegraph’s jewellery expert, to curate some of her favourite discoveries and old favourites for a special selling exhibition.
Davidson’s selections include work by Julia Maria Kunnap, Emefa Cole, Leen Heyne, Venyx, Lito Lito Karakostanoglou, Cecilia Fein Hughes and Jessica McCormack alongside designer Chris Davies and Louisa Guinness Gallery artists. Each of Davidson’s selections have been chosen “because they’ve caught my eye in a very different way. I can be just as bowled over by a humble quartz as I can by a giant diamond, and as in love with hand embroidered velvet as I am with an old enamelling technique. These items all bring me joy, and it has been fabulous to gather them together.”
“Seeing Estonian lapidarist (gemstone cutter) Julia Maria Kunnap’s jade hoop earrings for the first time was revelatory for me,” Davidson says. “The sheer genius of how she sees hard stone as an almost liquid form astounds me.” Kunnap’s work is just one of eight very special designers invited to contribute pieces.
Ghanaian born designer-maker Emefa Cole, whose work is in the collections of the V&A and Goldsmith’s Company will show some of her mesmerising geology-inspired pieces, while Leen Heyne of the Netherlands will showcase his utterly unique mastery of gold, from which he has created rings like twisted, silken cord.
Dendritic Agate – a type of mineral with inclusions that appear to grow like trees within – become surreal pendants and rings in a new collection from Venyx by Eugenie Niarchos – little worlds within themselves within which to get lost.
Benjamin Hawkins will exhibit three one-of-a-kind pieces, including the Sarabande brooch based on the Death’s Head Moth, replete with translucent plique a jour enamel work making up its wings.
Athens based jeweller Lito Karakostanoglou of Lito Fine Jewellery’s Infinite Series pieces will be on display, their mirror-polished mixed-gold jigsaw-like pieces making up earrings and a phenomenal choker to turn heads from across a room, while the work of Cecilia Fein Hughes of Cece Jewellery demands a much closer look. The tiny scale of Cece’s rings and pendants belie the complexity of what decorates them – insanely intricate, hand enamelled engravings of her paintings, in miniaturised perfection.
And finally, an incredibly special item from cult diamond jeweller Jessica McCormack, but surprisingly, not jewellery. Rather, it’s a bespoke ‘heirloom’ jewellery box, entitled Mother Earth. A painstakingly refurbished antique wooden jewellery box has had its interior and trays lined with hand-embroidered velvet, featuring scenes of the earth’s wonders. From majestic tigers to the humble bumble bee, giant crystals and coral reefs, it’s an extraordinary piece of one-of-a- kind art to house tiny treasures.
In addition to Davidson’s selections studio designer Chris Davies will have a selection of earrings available. With a background in dressmaking and in ancient history, Davies considers the silhouette and “the way a piece falls against the body”, exhibiting an interest in how a jewel moves with the wearer.”
The exhibition will run until the 22 nd of December at 45 Conduit Street with a Meet
the Designers drop in on Thursday December 2 nd from 5pm-7pm.
