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fashion meets design: concept jewelry from hartog & henneman

Compared to interior and furniture design, trends and concepts in fashion change and evolve much faster. It is not surprising that fashion often becomes a muse for developing new designs in furniture and interior design, and even in architecture.

Aside from the quirky and innovative furniture pieces, our guest blogger Deepa was also able to take a peek at some of the most exciting fashion accessories featured during Dutch Design Week 2011 (DDW). Today, Deepa shares with us the out-of-the-box accessories from Dutch jewelry designer Hartog & Henneman.

Just took a quick look at their website and the ‘gold fever‘ necklaces (above) caught my attention. I love the petri dish-like styling! Something pretty for the science geeks. Enjoy our Monday eye candies! -ardel

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One of the best parts of Dutch Design Week (DDW) was choosing a little slice of yummy design goodness to take home with me. For an avowed accessory addict such as myself, that little slice was a piece of wearable design from conceptual jewelry duo Hartog & Henneman.

Made of industrial rubber, the collar I bought at DDW is part of Hartog & Henneman’s Out of Office collection. Each piece in the collection was designed using simple office supplies such as a felt-tip marker, compass or puncher, bringing new meaning to the words “office wear.”

That should clue you in to the perspective, creativity and wit embodied in the work of Jiska Hartog and Michiel Henneman. Trained silversmiths who studied art at the AKI Academy in Enschede, the Netherlands, this award-winning duo obtained their masters’ degrees in fine art from the Wimbledon College of Art in London.

If the trick to good design is asking good questions, the question Hartog & Hanneman explore is: “What is a jewel?”  In questioning how a jewel is defined, they say a jewel isn’t simply composed of minerals, but is also made up of the culture around it: what it means to people, what we desire, what we value, and why.

Would we adorn ourselves with everyday objects like paper clips and push pins over diamonds and pearls? Maybe, but something needs to shift to get us to do it. And Hartog & Henneman plays in the place where that shift occurs. Often, it’s simply about materials. I love the idea of a human bulletin board adorned with these silver pushpins, but probably wouldn’t feel the same way about sticking plastic pushpins into my jacket.

In their gorgeous Silverstone collection, gemstones are replaced with matte silver that is polished with wear, slowly getting shinier over time. Is it any less, well, precious than real precious stones?

Bomb Wreck Jewelry, their collaboration with artist Jonas Staal, takes scrap refuse from a bomb blast in Baghdad, Iraq, and turns them into objects of value and desire. Fused together by the heat of the blast, these “worthless” shards of melted glass, wire and motor parts took on a new beauty in the designers’ atelier.

A story behind each piece, and a question behind each story: that’s conceptual jewelry design for you. Hartog & Hanneman’s designs invite a closer look at what we choose to adorn ourselves with, and why. And they sure look pretty too.

(photos via hartog & henneman)

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cobonpue x maroon 5

Kenneth Cobonpue is on a roll!

First, there was Brad Pitt’s home. Then, the Ocean’s 13 set. Now, his Voyage Bed gets the spotlight once more in Maroon 5′s ‘Never Gonna Leave This Bed’ video! Above is a sneak peak. Enjoy!

And have a happy weekend

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the sartorialist + the sartorialist sketches

Speaking of fashion, today, the artsy people that we follow on Twitter are somehow tweeting and raving about one thing–Intel’s documentary  on photographer and blogger Scott Schumann aka The Sartorialist (above).

I’m sure most of you are familiar with The Sartorialist (the blog), which also has a book version. But did you know that a local artist, after being inspired by Schumann’s photographs, made a series of watercolor sketches of the pictures?  Robert Alejandro (of Papemelroti, Probe Team, and Art is Kool) is the artist behind The Sartorialist Sketches.

“I’ve never heard of the website ‘The Sartorialist’ – not until I saw the book at a bookstore. I didn’t want to buy the book – I already made purchases and my bag was extremely heavy. But then, I loved the photographs, I loved how the people looked in the photographs and I thought it would be such a joy to draw them.”

Here are some of the sketches that he made.

For his other works, you can visit Robert Alejandro’s site here.