STUDDED PENDANT YELLOW

From the very early stages of the design process I knew I wanted this collection to be a celebration of the very metal it was made from – clean, pure, graphic and strong shapes that celebrated the gold from which they were crafted. Unapologetic designs that gave their wearer the darkly thrilling sensations I had conjured up in my narrative. The collection itself is a hymn to underground London, the very darkest parts of it. 

My initial reference point was the film ‘Performance’*. In fact the collection title itself was taken from a quote in the film by the character Turner (played by Mick Jagger) – “the only performance that really makes, that makes it all the way, is madness”.

My narrative for the collection reflects many of the key themes from the film – a London underworld inhabited by gangsters, fallen rock stars and creatures of the night; Characters that push the boundaries of masculinity, decadence and bad behaviour to the very limit.

My fixation with the importance of gold in this collection led me to explore how I could play with the idea of using metal, where perhaps traditionally there would be stones. The ‘stud’ shapes you see throughout, act as if ‘set’ in the way traditionally a stone would be.

This pendant was a direct response to this design idea. The studs are joined and hung from the chain with a curved, sculptural form – again I wanted to capture the tension between very sharp, knife-edge lines, and curvaceous, almost voluptuous forms. 

* Dir. Donald Cammell/Nicholas Roeg. 1970.