Earlier on I discoverd some interesting leather hand-crafted accessories made by Sarah Heulwen Lewis which I liked a lot.
Sarah also created this Deco Spine bracelet. Spine as in spine, indeed.
Sarah on the Deco Spine bracelet:
Generally I am inspired by anything medical, the human form and love the Art Deco period. When the brief came up for the Lonmin competition I was in my element! Playing with ideas of movement, repetitive patterns that can represent the design, rivets and a screw join. I wanted a hidden clasp, the tap and die screw system was the only way forward, to ensure fluidity throughout the whole design. Extremely tricky in platinum, but we managed it!
Having already made a spinal butterfly piece within my MA, I loved how effectiveness of repetitive, multiple components. The spine is such an inspiring part of the body for me, I could design all day around the idea of the spine/jewellery that falls down the length of your back! The Art Deco spine would have been amazing could I have made a neck/backpiece, but this would have been extremely expensive in platinum!
Inspiration for this piece:
It is contruscted of twenty-four interlocking parts to represent the number of vertebrae in the human spine, the Deco Spine bracelet imitates the arrangement and movement of the backbone within an Art Deco inspired, geometric design.
I used traditional and cutting-edge technology to fuse together; precise, crisp components carefully constructed to create fluid, natural movement. Along the length of the bracelet, coloured stones graduate in shades of purple, blue and green.
During the Art Deco movement, technology, scientific advancement and the human body were often portrayed within the design. The technology of medicine and the human spine are pivotal to the design, evoking movement of the human body in the piece, that symbolises life, history and change. Repetition, patter and movement are integral to the design, as they are in the structure of the human spine.
It’s all about the details:
“I wanted a hidden clasp, the tap and die screw system was the only way forward, to ensure
fluidity throughout the whole design.”
Spinal Butterfly by Sarah Heuwlen
[All images by and via Sarah Heulwen | Collage by MoJ]