FROZEN ELEGANCE AT THE SOUTHERN GUILD OPENING
For a couple of weeks, there has been great anticipation in the art and design world for the opening of the Southern Guild Gallery. With two of my best friends, I headed over to the new Silo District at the V&A Waterfront to meet one of the talented exhibitors. WAIF is a Cape Town jewelry studio and has featured in publications like Vogue, Elle and Visi. They launched their new collection Technicolor Melodrama on the 14th of June with an astounding 3000 people attending.
Photographer: Ramese Mathews I Stylist: Jan de Wet Art director: Jan de Wet I Location: Boudry Architect's Studio
The new range includes a wide variety of designs comprising of rings, brooches, earrings and barrettes. The recurring theme in all the work is the use of organic shapes. They derive a lot of it from bodily forms and abstracts it into something more simplistic and practical. What I really enjoy about the latest designs is the balance between the quirky and fun pieces (for example the Spiral Staircase or the Japanese Lichen earrings) and the more serious items like the Dalmatian Brooch or Bumblebee Jasper earrings.
I couldn’t help but pick traces and influences of the art of Walter Battis in the more playful designs. I think it’s the combination and marriage of organic shapes and use of bold colour. Battis too was influenced by the human figure and a lot of his work was inspired by rock art and San paintings. He interpreted these paintings differently, being influenced by Pablo Picasso and portrayed it in a much more fun, stylised way. But, it’s not only the similarities in subject matter that fascinated me but also the understanding of positive and negative space and the way in which the jewellery is ordered.
Photographer: Ramese Mathews I Stylist: Jan de Wet Art director: Jan de Wet I Location: Boudry Architect's Studio
After seeing the work at the Guild, I had a vision of how I could portray her work for this article. Contrasting the concept of the Technicolour Melodrama photo-hoot, we wanted to play with the idea of the human body as a blank canvas, on a blank canvas.
We stripped model, Vicky Salis, of all colour and thought of her as a three-dimensional backdrop to display the jewellery on. Applying multiple layers of white makeup and hair paint she transformed into an ice queen. Ramese Matthews, the photographer made use of a combination of natural and artificial light to enhance the exposure and create a frozen melodrama of our own.
Photographer: Ramese Mathews I Stylist: Jan de Wet Art director: Jan de Wet I Location: Boudry Architect's Studio
The pieces we used were the Dalmatian Jasper earring, Dalmatian Jasper brooch, Thinking ring and earrings from her previous range. What made this shoot so successful is the dialogue that was created between the jewels and the concept, even though it’s completely different
My personal favourite is the Dalmatian Jasper brooch. I think what makes this piece so evocative, is the combination of the stone and the brass. It’s a well-balanced composition of two materials that are very contrasting, yet complimentary. The stone is sharp with rough edges, very masculine, but is thin and delicate in its own way. It’s enclosed in a rounded brass hand that resembles the soft and organic lines of the female form.
Photographer: Ramese Mathews I Stylist: Jan de Wet Art director: Jan de Wet I Location: Boudry Architect's Studio
WAIF's jewellery speaks of elegance and poise. The designs are timeless because it references organic and geometric shapes and consists of natural materials that aren’t fashion driven. Although most of her work is aimed at a female clientele, I do feel that there is a unisex quality in some of her designs, especially in the classic collection.
A personal note of thank to: Boudry Architects, Vicky Salis, Ramese Mathews, Annina de Swardt.
