Well, change the 5 minutes to half an hour. In Paris I had the honor to chat with jewelry designer Tom Binns, a conversation as interesting as they can get. Mister Binns was waiting for me on a cosy couch at Hotel Lotti in Paris, surrounded his collections from the past 30 years.
Jewelry that would have looked completely different if he would not have anything to do with commercialism. “It is all really nice, but it is not my voice. It is more like a whisper, because I am forced to compromise to be able to have customers.” A customer that Binns describes as ‘daring enough and with funk (read: offbeat)’. “I do not have a special person in mind when I design my things, though they have to have tits.”
The designer reveals that he does make stuff in private, stuff that people ant to buy, but he does not want to sell. Those pieces he calls stories, books, his commercial pieces are more like words.
Even though Binns clearly states he does not agree on the opinion of Suzy Menkes in her article on bloggers, he confesses he has never read a blog himself. “Suzy Menkes used to be the queen of the castle and used to have the word. Other people have the word now and that is a good thing. She feels threatened by it and writes an article revealing how threatened she actually feels.”
Binns choses an online newspaper over magazines, magazines make him angry. “They are not loyal, they use my jewelry and then use anything that looks like mine. They do not give a sh*t.”
What he would love to do in the next 30 years of his career? “I want to take it a bit further, not do any compromises anymore. A compromise is a diet that other people create for you, why would you have the crums when you could have the whole cake? I want to write my books and tell my stories (referring to the more overwhelming pieces he makes at home).”
Shop Tom Binns jewelry:
Tags: 5 minutes with, jewelry, tom binns
Posted on March 8th, 2013, in
This necklace from Efva Attling is probably the one item from my wardrobe I get the most questions and compliments about. Obviously the fact that I have been wearing it non-stop since I got it helps receiving more compliments than the items that get to see the sun only once in a while, but I think it is quite funny that something so tiny apparently gets the most attention.
Would be interesting – and quite obsessive – to count the amount of positive reactions per item per hour, no? See if this little bastard would still be the winner.
Tags: efva attling, jewelry
Posted on December 21st, 2012, in
Posted on November 16th, 2012, in
The first thing I learned as a kid when I started to wear jewelry was to never mix the metals. I kicked off my love for jewelry at the age of around 7, when my mom – who worked at a jeweler at that time – took home that crazy scary pistol to pierce my ears. Tiny little gold hoops it was for years and years and two super thin golden rings to match. That was until I was old enough to go shopping on my own and found out there was much bigger jewelry available. The bigger the better!
After experimenting with all kinds of colors and sizes of things to accessorize my fingers, wrists, ears and neck with, I came to the conclusion that less is kind of more. And also that it is ok – even cool – to mix the colors up. I now have a few things that I never take off (my earrings, two silver rings and a watch that changes from time to time) and add whatever I am in the mood for in the morning, regardless its color.
Rings from Senesense (3D printed!), Cooee and Tiffany & Co, watch from Juicy Couture and bracelets I designed for Maison de Bonneterie.
Tags: cooee, fashion etiquette, jewelry, juicy couture, maison de bonneterie, tiffany & co
Posted on October 18th, 2012, in
A couple of months ago, the Dutch luxury department store Maison de Bonneterie came up to me and asked me if I wanted to do a collaboration with them. Back then, we were not really sure what it was going to be, but we definitely wanted to do something with the windows. And so we decided that I could style, and eventually also model, their Things We Love for Autumn campaign. I collected 22 looks from the new collections, 11 for my boyfriend – who was happy to do the male part of the modeling - and 11 for me. We shot the whole campaign at the end of August with the amazing photographer Reinier van der Aart and those pictures are now hanging in all Maison de Bonneterie windows in Amsterdam and The Hague. I have to say it is super cool, but at the same time kind of weird to see myself hanging there, I mean those pictures are not the smallest!
Then I got my own little baby, my own window. I decided it had to show a little sneak peek from behind the scenes of our collaboration. The result is kind of a Pinterest board with backstage images – shot by Lisa Galesloot – from the shoot and a cool little window that showcases the bracelet I made to celebrate the whole thing.
Speaking of that bracelet… The idea for it came to existence when I was moving in together with my boyfriend. Our style is pretty much a simple mix of everything we bump into and I am slightly obsessed with all things industrial. When my dad came help us hang up our old Czechoslovakian factory lights, he needed me to get him what is called a shackle/harp closure. Until that day I had never heard of it before, but the minute I saw it, I knew that was going to be my bracelet.
The bracelets are available HERE in gold, silver and rose gold for 79 euros a piece. They are limited edition (there is only a 100 in each color) and they are all numbered. I hope you like them!
Tags: jewelry, maison de bonneterie
Posted on October 12th, 2012, in
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