SHE SELLS SEA SHELLS BY THE SEA SHORE

The precious materials used to make jewelry tend to get very standard. I personally admire the jeweler who reaches outside of the box for something different. Something as ordinary as a shell, perhaps. By incorporating it into his design, the jeweler elevates it to a level where we stop taking the shell for granted and really take a look at it.

Children love seashells. For the avere person, they are a passing fancy. But once a shell - seemingly something we can pick up for free at the shore - is suddenly worth five thousand dollars, it grabs our attention! Set in gold and studded in a few percious gems,  it never fails to bring out an "ooh" of admiration.

One must allow me a brief tangent on the subject. The very act of dressing up a simple shell with a little gold and pearls, framing it and turning it into an object of desire, sounds similar to the relationship between jewelry and women, does it not? Both the woman and the shell were just as beautiful to begin with. So why does a small bit of polish and gold make such a difference? But back to the topic at hand.



Shells are used in jewelry in more ways than are at first obvious. Mother of pearl is an obvious exmaple, and is used very commonly. Cameos are traditionally carved from shells. It was a clever step for jewelers to take advantage of the natural transition of colors between layers in a piece of shell. My favorite is when designers use the shell itself, as a whole, crust and all. Its cleaned and polished to reveal the pattern, or sometimes rasped and polished to expose the pearly sheen found on the inside of some shells. The shapes themselves are so organic, cunning, and perfect. The colors, textures, and patterns are utterly captivating. I cannot get enough!

Seaman Schepps and Trianon are two designers who use shells playfully and elegantly in their work. When a shell is studded with gold an dpearls, it almost looks like bits of ocean water still clinging to its surface. Vhernier takes a deconstructive approcah. He carves a shell shape into clear quartz, and sets it on top of mother of pearl, bubbling and exploring the textures and light effects. David Webb often uses very realistic shell motifs in his work (almost like he cast the shell in gold).



Next time you are on the prowl for jewelry, I urge you to consider the humble shell.