Calypso II
Sophia Vari Calypso II, 2012 silver earrings with clips 4.5 x 3 cm edition of 6 signed and numbered Sophia Vari’s work is an investigation of form and balance, strongly influenced by Mayan, Egyptian, Olmec, and Cycladic traditions as well as Ancient and Baroque aesthetics. Her artist name « Vari » draws on the name of the Greek village where her family house was. Specializing in bronze sculpture, she is also known for collages, oils, watercolours and gained widespread recognition for her stunning jewellery, or « wearable sculptures » that combine geometric lines and sensual curves in silver, gold and ebony.
Serpente (Immeasurable Time)
Joy BC Serpente (Immeasurable Time), 2022 Recycled silver, recycled 18kt yellow gold, triangular trillion 0.3ct cut diamond and old cut 0.43ct diamond. 3cm long 2cm wide Size 54 Edition 1 of 3 + 1 AP Hallmarked, numbered and signed The serpent, or snake, has been on earth for at least 100 million years. It occurs on all continents, some 3000 species. Across cultures and epochs, the snake is a powerful symbol which has been both feared and revered. In Alchemy, the snake appears as the ‘ouroboros’, a snake eating its own tail, representing the unity of all things. The ouroboros refers to the mystery of cyclical time, which flows back into itself. The late poet Claudian described the ouroboros a surrounding a cave of ‘Immeasurable time’. In the ancient Egyptian myth of the journey to the sun, where time itself is created, there is Apep, a giant water snake. Whereas in ancient Greece Ophio is a male serpent impregnated by the primeval divinity Eyrynome, who bore a cosmic egg. Demeter even had a chariot drawn by serpents. In this rendition, rather the swallowing its own tail, the snakes head contains a modern triangular diamond, and the tail is wrapped around an […]
Triade Bianca
Faust Cardinali La Triade Bianca, 2022 Silver, 18kt yellow gold , hand-carved antique ivory , rubies ring 6 x 5 x 3 cm Unique and signed “« l’objet trouvé » – the hand carved piece of ivory was a liturgical accessory from the Atelier Chéret / Paris. In 1991 I had a studio in that historic space. 30 years later I bought the piece from Claude Chéret and immediately thought of a sculpture – a ring: the bull symbolises power and fecundity, the eagle the authority, virility, the government, victory and courage, Our Lady… we know. For me, the White Triad is a sculpture – like a sort of arch (of triumph?) where inside the heart, embossed in gold, pulsates and three drops of ruby guarantee its life. A kind of tree, where light filters through, ivory is like flesh or fabric. A ring to wear in more than special ceremonies.”
Collana (Necklace)
Giampaolo Babetto Collana , 2020 18kt yellow gold necklace Unique and signed Giampaolo Babetto’s work reflects contemporary art movements such as concrete art, minimal art, kinetic or pop art in a unique, purist and plastic manner. His pieces are immediately recognisable by its simple design. He is inspired by the architecture of his homeland, by Palladio’s villas, and by the geometries in which he finds poetry. His jewellery is innovative in concept. Made up of different abstract elements, broken down into modular units, or rendered moveable through the use of ingenious links, Babetto’s works are like small architectural pieces or small sculptures. Babetto prefers working in gold due to its stable malleability and its warm sheen which he combines with unconventional materials such as plastic or glass, ebony, dusting the internal surface with a velvet-like pigment in luminous primary colours of reds or blues or using enamel and age-old niello-based techniques. These materials are used as highlights and contrasts in works of increasingly pure and essential geometrical forms that have come to characterise the Padua School.
Collana (Necklace)
Giampaolo Babetto Collana , 2010 (1994) 18kt yellow gold and pigment necklace Unique and signed Giampaolo Babetto’s work reflects contemporary art movements such as concrete art, minimal art, kinetic or pop art in a unique, purist and plastic manner. His pieces are immediately recognisable by its simple design. He is inspired by the architecture of his homeland, by Palladio’s villas, and by the geometries in which he finds poetry. His jewellery is innovative in concept. Made up of different abstract elements, broken down into modular units, or rendered moveable through the use of ingenious links, Babetto’s works are like small architectural pieces or small sculptures. Babetto prefers working in gold due to its stable malleability and its warm sheen which he combines with unconventional materials such as plastic or glass, ebony, dusting the internal surface with a velvet-like pigment in luminous primary colours of reds or blues or using enamel and age-old niello-based techniques. These materials are used as highlights and contrasts in works of increasingly pure and essential geometrical forms that have come to characterise the Padua School.
Salvia (Sage)
Giuseppe Penone Salvia, 2022 18 kt yellow and white gold ring 6.20 x 2.35 x 2.6 cm edition of 10 signed and numbered “… a material, a thing, an object, a colour has the strength to provide us with an apparent comprehension or suggestion of the complexity of life” (G. Penone, 1998) After eleven years from the creation of Foglia (Leaf), Giuseppe Penone designs exclusively for Elisabetta Cipriani Salvia (Sage) rings. Known for his sculptural work addressing the relationship between man and nature, Giuseppe Penone has often employed his own body as a mean to investigate issues concerning the perception of reality, often stepping into the metaphysical. Penone’s work reveals the interconnected nature of everything that exists. He achieves this through the concrete (visual, tactile, and olfactory) aspects of nature, which he explored until he uncovers it magical primal essence.Incredibly versatile and having worked with a variety of materials on different scale, Penone’s project for Elisabetta Cipriani Gallery is a natural extension of his artistic oeuvre. Produced in a limited edition of 10, Salvia (Sage) ring is a wearable sculpture reproducing a highly detailed sage leaf upon which a musical note has been gently applied. Using the lost-wax casting technique the […]
Ring
Frank Stella Ring, 2008 18kt yellow gold ring 4.4 x 8.9 x 5.1 cm Edition 8 of 10 Signed and numbered Inspired by baroque artists, who developed illusionistic “tricks” to convincingly suggest that their subjects emerged out of the canvas and into the space of the viewer, Stella extended his paintings into the third dimension to enter the viewer’s space with protruding materials. He further developed this concept creating exuberant sculptural works dominated by tangles of curves, spirals and loops. The wearable art project came to life through the collaboration between Stella and Ernest Mourmans. The drawing of the ring stems from a 6-meters sculpture. It took six months for realization, as it is all handmade and welded in 28 parts. Taking six months for realization, this beautifully crafted ring is Stella’s first piece of wearable art.
Clytemnestre
Sophia Vari Clytemnestre, 2013 Ebony, yellow gold and silver patinated necklace 24 x 19 cm Unique and signed Sophia Vari’s “portable sculptures”, as she likes to call them, first became part of the artist’s body of work 30 years ago; at a time in her life when demanding international schedule kept her constantly on the move. While travelling, she carried with her a small box of plasticine, from which she would mould miniature sculptures. “From that day on, I had a new creative challenge that gave me a lot of joy because I could see the pieces being worn,” she recalls. Vari approaches wearable art in precisely the same manner and strength as her abstract sculptures, collages and paintings. Her thorough exploration of bold geometric forms, the examination of volume, painterly curves and lines result in the composition both peaceful and elegant but also captures a harmonious theatrical tension. “It is a real challenge for me, and it is very much like creating a sculpture, made to be worn. No doubt, the fact that I am a woman has its advantages. Firstly, because I can try it on me – and secondly the fact that I have greater sensitivity compared […]
Ring W and Ring M
Ai Weiwei Ring W and Ring M, 2018 24kt yellow gold rings 2.48 x 2.88 x 1.65 cm; 2.72 x 3.04 x 1.86 cm edition of 6 (per model) After three years of intense artistic and social commitment, Ai Weiwei returns to create unique jewels with the purity of 24kt gold that can be worn by women and men. The exclusive project, which includes two models of rings, realized in an edition of 6 pieces each, reflects the artist’s concern about the human condition, the awareness of what it means to be trapped, bound, and deprived of the freedom to travel and to determine one’s own existence. Inspired by ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics and the processing of gold in ancient Greece, the rings continue the artist’s research on human migration – as witnessed in the artist’s ground-breaking documentary ‘Human Flow’ (2017). The wearable artworks are representative of Ai Weiwei’s sensitivity to the duality of human nature, with its capacity for nurture and kindness on one hand yet destruction and cruelty on the other. In the centre of the ring’s face, depictions of migrants’ stories unfold under a mysterious half-moon: by foot or by sea, some are portrayed travelling together and others alone. Ai […]