November 2017
Silk, fine silver, copper, sterling silver

Every year, I make my wife an anniversary present that incorporates the material associated with the particlar milestone. The fourth anniversary is traditionally silk or linen, and since silk is a bit more luxe I chose to use it here. I will grant that there is less of the focal material in this piece than in past anniversary gifts—but when the muse hits, the muse hits.

To wit: as I was mulling what I could possibly do with silk that would look good in jewelry but didn't involve braiding or weaving, I happened to be browsing through a book about my original art hero, Henry Moore (when I was perhaps four years old I was sculpting abstract sand non-castles at Hanauma Bay on O‘ahu and my dad, noticing the forms, asked if I knew who Moore was. Being four, I thought Henry Moore might be a cartoon I wasn't familiar with or maybe a friend of my Dad's, so I just said "no" and kept playing. My dad introduced me to the sculptor's work shortly thereafter and I was hooked forever).

But I digress. Looking at Moore's work, I was reminded of his contemporary/classmate/friend/rival Barbara Hepworth—an equally amazing sculptor who shared Moore's abstract modernist aesthetic—who frequently incorporated string and rope into her sculpture. Inspired, I designed this pendant as an homage to her work. The argent repoussage in the center echoes the limned inner surfaces of her wooden forms, and the fine silver from which it is forged will never tarnish. The copper rim was chosen specifically because it will tarnish; its present woody color, when left alone long enough, will transform into a patina reminiscent of Hepworth's bronzes. The blue silk cord mimics some of Hepworth's classic stringing patterns, and the four portals cut through the repoussage further indicate my wife's and my fourth anniversary.

Pendants & Necklaces