So, for my final piece in my latest college brief I had to design and create jewellery. I really enjoyed researching into influential designers such as Gareth Pugh and Hussein Chalayan. I especially found Gareth Pughs S/S 12 collection to be a huge inspiration, I loved the all of the pieces of clothing made from those tiny gold squares, I developed this design idea later on. My final pieces were all themed on Egypt and Urban culture, I chose this because whilst looking into fashion shows predicting 2012 trends I found that the most popular trend predicted was gold and black.
I designed my pieces around the colours gold and black, and whilst designing I thought that by using the theme of Egypt for my jewellery would be a nice and effective touch. Instead of just copying Egyptian jewellery I chose to mix together Urban and Egypt, I wanted to create a fashionable piece of jewellery which fitted with the urban culture.
I decided to name each piece of my jewellery after an Egyptian item and belief, by doing this I thought that it would give the pieces a more professional feel and look about them. The necklace is named after the Egyptian Postiches which only the Pharaohs used to wear. This was the gold metal cover that they used to place over their beards. I wanted to bring this amazing and well-known piece of Egyptian history to the current trends and show it though jewellery. The gold metal beard is worn by only the Pharaohs as it represents Sovereignty, this means power and authority. The necklace is also shaped as the Postiches, using the long rectangle shape worn high on the collar bone represents the ancient object but with an Urban twist. The necklace is called Sovereignty.
After the necklace comes the ear cuff, the main inspiration for the ear cuff came from an Egyptian god who was worshipped by many. Most Egyptians believed that he controlled the sun and was also associated with the dung beetle, this beetle highly represents Egypt. This god went by the name of Khepri and was always drawn featuring a whole beetles body for his head. I wanted the ear cuff to be themed around a beetles shell or body, I feel that beetles are always linked with Egypt. I designed the cuff to look like a shell, that is why I have created a round pointy shape with the gold squares finishing over the edge of the cuff. The ear cuff is called Khepri for this reason.
Last but not least is the ring, I have produced a ring that was influenced by an ancient pyramid called The Step Pyramid of Djoser. This pyramid has a clear slant upwards almost like steps leading up. That is why my ring is layered because I wanted to use the shape of this amazing pyramid to create an Urban ring. The ring is called Djoser.
All of the pieces I designed were all hand made by me out of recycled materials. I used gold mosaic squares, string, cuffs, rings and earrings. I am extremely happy with the outcome of my final jewellery pieces and I may have to wear them out a couple of times! This brief has been carried out into the promotional side of my jewellery this includes, Branding my jewellery, Packaging, Promotion, Posters, Press releases and so on. I am half way though this brief and will post all of my promotional work when I have finished everything. All I will say at the moment is that my jewellery brand is called Urban History and this collection is called Urban Egypt!
Keep posted to find out more!!
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