JEWELERS BRANCH OUT
From classic heritage labels to contemporary brands, designers turn to adorning houses as well as customers
Although different in scale, jewelry and homeware are both mainstay adornments that come to define us, and are often charged with sentimental value. As such, it is not surprising that jewelers will often try their hand at creating homeware.
Since its founding in 1847, Cartier has supplied stylish objects for the home, such as a practical inkstand and desk clock from 1908 in beautiful lilac enamel with diamond and sapphire details. To celebrate the successful moon landing mission in 1969, the firm produced a gold, lacquer and enamel replica of the “Eagle” module used by the Apollo 11 astronauts. Today, Cartier customers can find dainty musical boxes or a panther-shaped piggy bank.
The Italian fine jewelry brand Buccellati has long presented refined silverware—or, as creative director Andrea Buccellati says, “been involved in the Art de la Table world”. At Milan Design Week 2022, the brand unveiled a new collaboration with the historic Florentine porcelain manufacturer Ginori 1735, and the resulting collection “has been crucial to offer a complete range of tableware articles with a true Buccellati style,” says Buccellati. The range continues the Double Rouche decorative motif of repeated curves, which appears across the brand’s jewelry and silver table accessories.
Homeware also provides jewelers with a larger canvas for their craft. Brazilian designer Silvia Furmanovich—whose fresh aesthetic is created using the wood marquetry technique across jewelry—has extended her range to homeware.
At PAD London in fall 2022, Furmanovich presented mirrors and jewelry boxes made using her signature technique, featuring evocative nocturnal skies and natural motifs. Furmanovich’s output also extends to stools and tables.
The Greek jeweler Lito has had a successful collaboration with US-based artisanal homeware brand L’Objet. The line includes vases, trays, bookends, and more, bearing Lito’s distinct evil eye motif. Jewel-bright porcelain plates feature resin and gold detailing, and a bronze magnifying glass is inlaid with resin “lashes”.
For Paris-born, London-based jewelry designer Anissa Kermiche, homeware has become a solid second pillar for her brand after intense online interest during lockdowns in the pandemic. Her wares are all infused with her tongue-in-cheek humor, from the Breast Friend vase, which takes the form of a female bust, to the Can Candlestick (pictured left), in the shape of two dancing legs.
For Kermiche, the transition was a no-brainer: “It is jewelry for the house.”