Hervé Van der Straeten hand hammered bronze earrings
" Hervé Van der Straeten's work begins with a sketch. An engineer turned art student, turned jeweler and designer, he fills his bound notebooks, which are never out of his reach, with drawings and doodlings, page after page, in which imagination, set loose, conceives a mirror, that mutates into an earring, that becomes a light fixture, that fades into a lipstick case. When he draws, traditional boundaries between object, art and design become obsolete.
A self confessed obsessive perfectionist, and an avid traveler, Van der Straeten started experimenting with jewelry while still an art student at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris. By 1985, barely 20, he had already found an agent in Japan and was showing his jewelry to high-end stores in New York.
"Very early on, fashion designers asked me to design jewelry for them," he said - designers like Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Lacroix, and Jean Paul Gaultier.
In 1998, as his exploration of form branched out from jewelry to furniture and other objects, he opened his own gallery at 11 rue Ferdinand Duval in the Marais district of Paris. "The reason I opened my own gallery was to be able to show the jewelry, the new furniture and the other objects all at once," Van der Straeten said. "I wanted to establish the interconnection between all of them.
Depending on the piece, Van der Straeten's jewelry is produced in yellow gold, silvered or black oxidized brass. Some pieces combine semi-precious stones like amethyst and crystal stone.
From there, it was but a short hop to designing makeup cases and perfume bottles for some of France's most respected fashion houses.
Among his signature pieces are the "Palazzo" perfume bottle he designed last year for Fendi; the gold metal and leather sandal he created in collaboration with the shoe designer Bruno Frisoni; the "KissKiss" make-up cases for Guerlain; and the "Excess" glassware line for Cristallerie de Saint-Louis."
This article from the New York Times sums it all up. A creative genius, who created unusual jewelry until 1998. His pieces are difficult to find, highly sought after.
These beautiful earrings are handmade, hand hammered and one of a kind. They are hand cut, therefore you see the difference in shape and length. Hand hammered, therefore the light reflects differently on every centimeter of these earrings. Made from oxidized brass therefore you see color differences which are meant to be there, jewellery that's unique- just like you!
Retail: only made up until 1998, a quick google search now shows the prices of the earrings anywhere from the high 500's $ to the thousands.
Condition: Vintage- age appropriate wear and tear. Color differences are meant to be there, we rate this piece as a 8/10. It could use a professional clean to look like new.
Size: Both earrings have a slightly different size:
Earring 1: Length 8.5 centimeters ( 3.25 inches) and width on hoop almost 6 centimeters ( 2.25 inches)
Earring 2: Length: a little less than 8.5 centimeters ( a little less than 3.25 inches) and width on hoop a little more the 5.5 centimeters ( just under 2.25 inches)
