So-Le Studio: Portrait of a Sustainable Jewellery House

Maria Sole Ferragamo is a natural raconteur of the most elegantly chilled kind. As the founder and creative director of So-Le Studio she has made story-telling a pillar in her creative process, and from the beginning there is a poetic serendipity in her chosen career and how she discovered or rather it discovered her. She reflects “I fell in love with making jewellery when I was nine years old…My Mum gifted me a box with some tweezers, some beads and a couple of wires and she taught me a very simple technique to make necklaces and bracelets and it was love at first sight. Although, I have found pictures of myself playing with my grandmother’s jewellery and there is a funny picture of me wearing two watches on one wrist, so I guess I fell in love with accessories when I was younger!” she says before letting out an infectious peal of laughter. Ferragamo’s choice of word ‘making’ and turns of phrase ‘love at first sight’ feel particularly pertinent, especially as our conversation unfolds. Whilst she of course designs, she does not separate herself from the manufacturing process and her pieces have the appearance of having at least in the ideation, been crafted and modelled by hand, and in this instance by Ferragamo herself. Passion, rather than plaudits drive her, a theme we return to severally. She describes herself as being “very lucky to be able to work with people who really operate from the heart and I feel there is a multiplication of this energy and this passion….I think I would also like to show to the world outside that things can work out this way.” What might to cynical minds sound like a romantic notion or a flight of fancy has proven to be true. Indeed staying loyal to her principles has paid dividends: since launching So-Le Studio in 2017, growth has been steady and upward with a direct-to-consumer model expanding to include stocking in noted boutiques around the globe. As Ferragamo adds that “we took our time to expand into strategic stores.” Furthermore, the world and luxury in particular have changed. People want to hear the founder’s and the maker’s story. They also want to connect with and ultimately purchase pieces that align with their values in the widest sense. It is not enough to create aesthetically pleasing items, they need to a window to wider vistas and enduring truths.

Maria Sole Ferragamo wears the Sei Earrings in Gunmetal Leather. Image Courtesy of So-Le Studio
Maria Sole Ferragamo wears the Sei Earrings in Gunmetal Leather. Image Courtesy of So-Le Studio

When Heritage and Pedigree Collide

We are speaking ostensibly due to her inaugural turn as a guest curator for Sotheby’s Luxury Edit, a series of auctions that will see a noted taste-maker collaborate with the auction house, creating their own curated list, which the general public can purchase too. Launched in September, the auctions will hold across the autumn months of 2022. For Ferragamo, the project which cuts across Sotheby’s principal locations, centres on three of their posts: London, New York and Paris and has the added dimension of her designing a limited-edition piece of jewellery rooted in each city’s contemporary architecture canon. “Sotheby’s was a great honour… and what is really interesting is they are perhaps observing a shift that is going on and are wanting to engage with a younger generation and inviting the younger generation to make more conscious choices.” Fulfilling that remit, Ferragamo’s selection shows the breadth of concerns and interests of younger Millennials and Gen Z: alongside Nike Yeezy 2.0 Red October trainers signed by Ye himself and a first edition of Ian Fleming’s Diamonds are Forever are unusual and highly collectible pieces from perennial luxury brands such as Elsa Perretti’ for Tiffany’s Wave earrings, a rare Hermès Picnic Birkin handbag and a diamond double clip brooch from Cartier.

The Great Bracelet, Ice Blue Leather. Image Courtesy of So-Le Studio
The Great Bracelet, Ice Blue Leather. Image Courtesy of So-Le Studio

Ferragamo is more than a woman with a strong curatorial eye. Prior to her MA in Jewellery Design at Central Saint Martin’s she initially trained as an architect a discipline that is writ large in her own body of work and one with which she drew upon for her capsule collection for Sotheby’s. “I thought to get inspired by landmark architecture that was built after the year 2000. So, I researched and as usual went with my heart and connected with buildings that gave me emotion and inspiration. For Paris, I chose the Louis Vuitton Foundation building by Frank Gehry, for New York the Vessel by Thomas Heatherwick and for London the Great Hall in the British Museum by Norman Foster and you can tell that these buildings are all characterized by important structures and patterns which are the elements that always drive my inspiration.” Iconic is a word grossly abused in modern language usage. But in this particular instance all three buildings possess if not the resemblance to an icon, then certainly are in keeping with the well-established and widely acknowledged reputations of their respective architects, whose acolytes in turn swear devotion to them. Translating this and adding her own recognisable design codes, Ferragamo has created the Great Bracelet, a statement cuff for that arm that is a riff on the glass roof of the Foster building. The Fondation Ear Cuff is reflective of the shell-like structures that are a familiar Gehry motif and dominate the pavilion and Heatherwick’s Vessel is reimagined as a pair of ear clips that reflect the honeycomb shaped cladding. Sculptural, architectural, and wearable objects are all adjectives and terms that have been frequently used to describe Ferragamo’s work something she is not averse to: “Architecture really informs my practice. Buildings are organisms to me. They are the perfect balance and harmony between form and function… [furthermore] remaining consistent and coherent to my vision and credo, I actually discovered that this was an incredible potentiality because it allowed different crowds, different minds, different eyes to appreciate my pieces. People of course wear them, but they also put them somewhere in their house and appreciate them as objects.” Expansive thinking on her part has allowed Ferragamo’s work to exist beyond rigid categorization whilst being anchored firmly in her conceptual and idealistic beliefs.

The Fondation Ear Cuff in Gold Leather. Image Courtesy of So-Le Studio
The Fondation Ear Cuff in Gold Leather. Image Courtesy of So-Le Studio
The Vessel Ear Clips In Green Leather. Image Courtesy of So-Le Studio
The Vessel Ear Clips In Green Leather. Image Courtesy of So-Le Studio

Ferragamo wears her family heritage lightly. A grand-daughter of Salvatore Ferragamo who alongside Edoardo Fendi and Guccio Gucci are considered the founding fathers of Italian luxury, she allows her work rather than familial connections to speak for her. However, heritage is an inevitable part of the So-Le Studio story. Her choice of principal material, deadstock leather, was initially sourced from family factories before expanding to other factories in and around Tuscany: “When I was very young and I was visiting the family factory I fell in love with leather, and I later became aware that there was an abundance of [deadstock] leather. It came naturally to me to say ‘I really want to make something out of it I cannot accept that it gets wasted. I need to turn it into jewellery. It was an instinctive action.” And like her famous ancestor who reimagined women’s footwear with the wedge heel – an innovation that married height and comfort – Ferragamo dared to dream of different usages for leather, ideas that have in turn challenged notions of intrinsic value and luxury. She expands, “leather had all the potentiality to become the protagonist in a piece of jewellery. But when I started talking to people about it, they said ‘you cannot be commercial if you use only leather’ and the thing is I love challenges.”

Lolita Cuffs in Gold Leather. Image Courtesy of So-Le Studio
Lolita Cuffs in Gold Leather. Image Courtesy of So-Le Studio

Ferragamo anchored her design language on fully exploiting the malleability leather had as well as the dazzling array of surface treatments one could utilise and the relative lightness of pieces which if made in metal would be uncomfortable in the wearing. The Luminous – a dramatic necklace that sits across the chest or indeed the back (Ferragamo anticipated this in the design) has become such a runaway success for the house that it is reinvented in different colour-ways each season. The same is true of the Revolve – Ferragamo’s contemporary take on jewellery’s hardy perennial – the hoop earring, with woven leather strands creating a 3-D effect and finally there is the Leila Cuff, that in its reversable nature becomes a versatile piece with multiple styling options.

Luminous Necklace in Black Crystallised Leather. Image Courtesy of So-Le Studio
Luminous Necklace in Black Crystallised Leather. Image Courtesy of So-Le Studio
Revolve Earrings in Petrol Green Leather. Image Courtesy of So-Le Studio
Revolve Earrings in Petrol Green Leather. Image Courtesy of So-Le Studio
Leila Cuff in Rose Coral Leather, Image Courtesy of So-Le Studio
Leila Cuff in Rose Coral Leather, Image Courtesy of So-Le Studio

Optical Illusions, Present Realities

“I am obsessed with optical illusions so for example all those sorts of things that invite you to look deeper to look beyond.” Ferragamo is a fan of many of the leading lights in the Op-Art school such as Bridget Riley, Alberto Biasi and Carlo Cruz-Diez . The guiding principles of the school; creating visual sleights of hand that imitate movement are translated in her own work, but rather than mimicking movement – as jewellery worn on the body inevitably does – she has chosen to imitate the metals themselves and in doing so challenge what we think is deserving of the being depicted as a precious piece of jewellery. “I thought I will challenge this perception and make jewellery that everyone would think should be made out of metal – so we are not only talking about illusions but also provocation.” Occasionally, the nomenclature of pieces supports her intent: ‘Not a Knot’ is both explanatory but also an invitation for opening perspectives. So too is ‘Alie’ which means ‘women of the sea’ but just like the mythical mermaids that inspire it invokes the mutable nature of an imaginary sea creature and should the wearer choose – of themselves too. Ferragamo expanded her unexpected materialism thesis to include recycled brass in the making process, but her intentions remained the same. Pieces such as the Doodle and Cocoon earrings possessed the same insouciant spirit of their leather counterparts, with the same exacting attention to detail and sculptural forms that have become house codes.

Not a Knot Ear Clip in Silver Leather. Image Courtesy of So-Le Studio
Not a Knot Ear Clip in Silver Leather. Image Courtesy of So-Le Studio
Alie Earrings in Silver and Gold Leather. Image: Aytekin Yalcin
Alie Earrings in Silver and Gold Leather. Image: Aytekin Yalcin

Debates have swirled around So-Le Studio’s pricing. Given that Ferragamo is not compromising on her design process or complex artistic execution, many have suggested that the pieces should be priced higher, but she counters this suggestion passionately: “Oftentimes, people see my jewellery and they are surprised, they are excited, they feel some emotions given that they are something so different. There is a sense of irony there. They are fun so I didn’t want to put such a big barrier as a really high price point. I wanted a price that would allow people to buy them on an instinct. That they could follow that initial emotion and purchase a piece.” Although she doesn’t explicitly say so, there is something quietly revolutionary in her modus operandi. Firstly, Ferragamo is not placing profit above all else, but rather emotion and connection and in doing so is to an extent democratizing luxury. Jewellery collecting, especially pieces that fall in to the ‘art-jewellery’ category can be an expensive and thus elitist proposition. In making pieces available on the open market that are both collectable and immediately wearable her work sits at an interest nexus. Ferragamo’s pieces are not ones where collectors will have to factor in a security detail when they step out in them. Furthermore, her initial direct-to-consumer model removed a barrier for those who might be intimidated by the classic jewellery store or gallery proposition, where being unknowledgeable of certain codes can make the retail process painful. But this is not to suggest that Ferragamo has abandoned the natural habitats for her pieces. In addition to her collaboration with Sotheby’s, Ferragamo has worked with the noted mecca in London for art-jewellery Elisabetta Cirpriani Gallery and has not ruled out further collaborations of this sort. “I have always kept a foot in the art world” she says as way of explanation.

Doodle Earclip in Gold Coated Brass and Enamel. Image Courtesy of So-Le Studio
Doodle Earclip in Gold Coated Brass and Enamel. Image Courtesy of So-Le Studio
Cocoon Ear clips in gold coated brass and yellow enamel. Image Courtesy of So-Le Studio
Cocoon Ear clips in gold coated brass and yellow enamel. Image Courtesy of So-Le Studio

When discussing the wider jewellery world, Ferragamo is effusive in her praise for practitioners she admires. “I really admire Fernando Jorge he was at Central Saint Martin’s too, and I love that his jewellery is so sensual, so architectural. And I really love the work of Marina Bulgari for the aspect of engineering in all of her pieces. I am a fan of hardware and hardware shops and for some reason although she was working with gold and precious stones, I see that mechanical aspect in her work.” But it is two artists from the Padua School that she reserves her most laudatory comments, declaring herself a long-term fan of Giampaolo Babetto and Francesco Pavan. As with Ferragamo, the Padua School jewellers are known for their experimental usage of other materials with the gold on their bench being joined by Perspex, glass and resin and geometric and sculptural forms being explored to their full abstract art possibilities. For her part Ferragamo is reluctant to be drawn into discussions of being part of an emergent school of thought noting “I would love to be part of a movement but to answer this question we will need some decades to elapse.” It is a refreshingly humble approach in an age where chasing premature legendary status is de rigeur but it hints at a creative mind who feels she has more in store to share.

Loie Earrings in Gold Leather, Image courtesy of So=Le Studio
Loie Earrings in Gold Leather, Image courtesy of So=Le Studio
Double Necklace Brass and Enamel. Image Courtesy of So-Le Studio
Double Necklace Brass and Enamel. Image Courtesy of So-Le Studio

Trends Become Thee

Owning one’s own narrative, authenticity and answering important questions around sustainability in light of the climate emergency have become hallmarks of the successful retail business, but for Ferragamo they have been part of her brand’s DNA from genesis to date. “I never did anything because I want to follow a trend or because it will fill a gap in the market. My goal is to create desire to create dreams.” Ferragamo often appears in her campaign imagery, it is an audaciously honest move – relying on her relatability as a working woman rather than a professional model to show how ‘easy yet transformative’ the pieces are. She elucidates “jewellery belongs in the cathedral of accessories so they are often seen as secondary, but they actually have a primary role in creating a look and expressing someone’s personality.” Whilst clothing often gets top billing as the non-verbal cue to our interior selves, jewellery is an equally invaluable signpost. “If you look at my pieces some of them remind you also of armour but then there is also comfort. As I want my customers to feel beautiful and protected.”

Gehry Ear Pendants in Silver Leather, Image Courtesy of So-Le Studio
Gehry Ear Pendants in Silver Leather, Image Courtesy of So-Le Studio
Athena Necklace in Gunmetal Leather, Image Courtesy of So-Le Studio
Athena Necklace in Gunmetal Leather, Image Courtesy of So-Le Studio

When we discuss the typical So-Le Studio customer, Ferragamo smiles and nods as if she is describing an old friend: “They have a strong sense of taste, are very interested in art and fashion and they have their own personality. They admire beauty and quality and you can’t really tell the brand they are wearing but they are super-chic. They see in my pieces a vessel to enhance, to express their personality and stand out…they travel a lot, are into a healthy lifestyle, don’t really care about what people think of her.” Her clarity born from years of observation and the fact that the traits mirror many of her own values has meant that Ferragamo has been able to expand on the brand’s offering without any of her actions feeling contrived. Organic seems to be her lodestar, and as the world has caught up with many of her core tenets – with jewellery brands showing off their sustainable credentials, bandying their memberships to various councils and environmentally friendly bodies, by description what So-Le Studio offers is the definition of conscious consumption, no further qualifiers required.

Idra Necklace in Gold plated Brass. Image Courtesy of So-Le Studio
Idra Necklace in Gold plated Brass. Image Courtesy of So-Le Studio

As a pioneer Ferragamo is happy that the world has caught up and her ideas have coalesced into a recognized benchmark. The team remains small but focused, and simultaneously rooted in the here and now but still with laser focus on the future. “With the legacy I want to leave I want to be a study where things of beauty were made, where things were made with respect, and if there is something I really believe in it is joining mind and heart and talent and that for me is the real sustainability.” For Ferragamo So-Le Studio is not just a blueprint for designing and making wearable objects but a lifestyle too. Luxury needn’t be expensive, extractive or exclusive and design that is both intuitive precise and born out of love and compassion isn’t an elusive notion in the slightest but is thriving and Tuscany and being shared with the world.

Model wears Luce Gold Rain Ear Cuff in Leather and Maria Sole Ferragamo wears the Nastro Earrings in Silver Leather. Image Courtesy of So-Le Studio
Model wears Luce Gold Rain Ear Cuff in Leather and Maria Sole Ferragamo wears the Nastro Earrings in Silver Leather. Image Courtesy of So-Le Studio

Ute Decker: Jewellery Artist and Activist

“I grew up thinking I was not creative at all and it took me probably all the way into my thirties to overcome what I had been led to believe at school.” Ute Decker, jewellery artist and ethical jewellery activist is reminiscing about her earliest creative memories and I am surprised that there isn’t a strong biographical artistic thread. For an artist who since formally launching her brand in 2009 has experienced immense critical acclaim and commercial success with her work being described as ‘wearable works of art’ by the auction house Christie’s, and acquired for the permanent collections of both the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Swiss National Museum in Zurich, it is somewhat puzzling that there were no early indications in her childhood of what was to come. Our Zoom meeting, which takes on the energy of a stimulating conversation with an intellectually curious friend who is as engaged with the world around them as they are with their craft, doesn’t feel like ‘work’ at all. In fact, we both agree that the whole interviewing business would be greatly improved with a glass of Grüner Veltliner, a wine we discover we both love. As our conversation progresses it becomes clear that Decker is so much more than an artist or a pioneer and early advocate of ethical jewellery practises; she has that rare quality of being equally a thinker and a doer. Her sculptural pieces possess the physicality of being made by her own hand, yet her ideological beliefs are imbued in the fact that the materials she uses are wholly ethical and traceable. We discuss her beginnings, her methodology and why she hopes that more in the industry will truly embrace ethical practises, especially if the jewellery industry is to truly shed some of the negative connotations that linger to this day.

Portrait of Ute Decker wearing the Orbit Ring in recycled silver. Image Courtesy of U Decker
Portrait of Ute Decker wearing the Orbit Ring in recycled silver. Image Courtesy of U Decker

A Fearless Point Of View

Decker is unabashed about her beginnings; she says with a smile “I used to call it ‘winging it’ but of course nowadays I would say I am an autodidact…I went to evening classes just to have access to tools.” There is a pragmatism in her rationale for attending evening classes, but it also reveals a creative who is governed by process, knowledge accumulation and self-mastery, indicative of her previous job as a news journalist and researcher. That she came to her craft, via it being a passionate hobby also allowed her a more expansive, unburdened, relationship, something that she is quick to point out: “Making jewellery for myself [resulted] in me making it stronger because I didn’t come out of university with a jewellery degree and then have to earn money. I was completely creatively free.” Then as now, her pieces are not obvious ‘crowd pleasers’ but rather require a wearer who has an equally unapologetic approach to aesthetics as Decker. Indeed, bestsellers such as the Infinity and Orbit collections sit comfortably on the nexus of sculpture and adornment, and could easily be at home on a mantel shelf as they are on a wrist or finger.

Infinity Spiral Ring in Fairtrade Gold. Image Courtesy of U Decker
Infinity Spiral Ring in Fairtrade Gold. Image Courtesy of U Decker

Modern life has made many industries increasingly youth focused. We have become conditioned to saving our noisiest praise for young prodigies. Subsequently, creatives of all ages lose sleep thinking of ways to capture the eyeballs online and the money in real life of young consumers. However, Decker took a different approach: first and foremost she ensured her honoured her truth and pleased herself, she adds cheerily “I made very large sculptural pieces that commercially are a complete no-no..but I already had my own character, my own language. I didn’t want to please anybody.” This approach proved critical in tapping into a powerful and oft ignored demographic “ A lot of my clients are mature strong women” she notes when I ask her about who is drawn most to her work. By appealing to women like herself she ironically reflects our contemporary love affair with ‘relate-ability’, but in Decker’s case it happened organically rather than as part of a marketing strategy. Most pertinently, it has resulted in cementing, relatively quickly a client base that is neither driven by trend or, because they statistically earn more money, governed entirely by cost. Among her early collectors was the late architect Zaha Hadid, and the former Serpentine Gallery director Julia Peyton-Jones was another admirer of her work. But beyond attracting celebrity clientele and creative cognoscenti acclaim, her work connected on a meta-level. Formally launched in a group show in 2009, and significantly after the 2008 economic crash, it reflected a global yearning for jewellery that had depth of meaning. It also came at a time when there was a desire for original voices who could create something that stood apart from the offerings in the high jewellery meccas of Paris and New York.

Two Unicorns Rings in recycled silver. Image Courtesy of U Decker
Two Unicorns Rings in recycled silver. Image Courtesy of U Decker

On Inspirations and Methodology

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Decker’s atelier is situated in London’s Cockpit Arts, a jewellery and design hub tucked between the city’s historic jewellery district of Hatton Garden and the leafy legal heartland of the Inns of Court of Holborn. Decker, who is originally from Germany was drawn to the space because of its sense of artistic community in a large sprawling city. However, although self-taught her design process is influenced profoundly by principles drawn from eastern traditions: “Are you familiar with Ensō?” She asks before continuing “I try to work as with Japanese calligraphy, with the Ensō  it is a circle that you draw…you have to be an apprentice and practise it for twelve years before you can put your name to it. I think that kind of practice is how I work. When I start off with the garden wire, I work until l have something that speaks to me and I am happy with and then I keep making the same piece, over and over again in brass. I work it out until I no longer have to think of the process and my hands now know by themselves. Once I have an intuitive feel, rather than doing and thinking through a lot of things, I make the final piece in metal, in one go. Like calligraphy, it needs to have that flow and dynamism and a natural end. And even if a client said I would love that brooch in gold or smaller or bigger I would still go back to the brass, to get my hands in the flow again. So it might take a few days. Sometimes the lines won’t speak to me and I will work on it for months and then just by chance I walk past a piece, pick it up, do one thing and there it is.” A process such as this is seemingly at odds with the western driven bottom line, one where a bestselling design would be churned out with celerity with the maximising of profits at the forefront of all activities. But like with much Decker does, it is challenging but ultimately rewarding. Supreme self-discipline in the repetitious nature of initial work is coupled with a spiritual harmony of intrinsically knowing when the piece is ready. As with the Ensō, the goal is mastery borne out of a lack of inhibition.

Chaos Neck Piece in Fairtrade Gold. Image Courtesy of U Decker
Chaos Neck Piece in Fairtrade Gold. Image Courtesy of U Decker

Warming to the conversation on eastern philosophies and beliefs she continues: “I am very interested in Zen Buddhism and I have tried meditating but I am not a practising Buddhist. In Zen, it is very much the idea of creating with an empty mind. So I sit there without any preconceived ideas. Without thinking, without an aim and without a goal for the end. My work is much more about a sentiment or a sensibility so I never have a concept in mind before, it is only later something might come.” She also invites her collectors to embrace a similar notion, where preconceived ideas are left at the door and instead they engage with a piece ‘empty’ and wait to respond to the emotions it might elicit. It is poetic and places Decker’s work more in the jewellery-artist category than the conventional jewellery designer. Of the distinction between the two she adds: “I don’t say I am a jewellery artist because I feel it sounds slightly pretentious. I tend to say I make sculptural pieces…or I hold out my hand or my neck and say, that is what I do. I try not to define it…If you consider that art it is art if you consider it jewellery, it is jewellery. It is about bringing your own perspective.”

Shadows Earrings in Bi-Metal (recycled silver and Fairtrade Gold) Image: Jamie Trounce
Shadows Earrings in Bi-Metal (recycled silver and Fairtrade Gold) Image: Jamie Trounce

Perhaps because of her circuitous route into jewellery, Decker steers away from labels or classifications being applied to her work. When I ask her of influences she pauses before responding “I admire the Padua School who are also quite minimalist but I don’t see myself as part of an artistic creative or jewellery school. But I would see myself as part of the ethical jewellery movement.” The Padua School under the unofficial leadership of Mario Pinton were at the vanguard of experimental gold smithery in the 1950s and 60s and like Decker, members such as Giampaolo Babetto were drawn to creating exploratory pieces that could be seen as both sculpture and jewellery with a minimalist sensibility. Intriguingly, the Japanese writer Jun’ichirō Tanizaki also provides ideas that fuel her work: “I have read‘In Praise of Shadows’ by Jun’ichirō Tanizaki and although it has several political issues there are certain sentiments in the book that I agree with. Tanizaki describes how when you go into a Japanese house it is so empty but then the play of shadows is so powerful. Something so minimalist: the wind rippling through the trees, a gentle wave rolling in the ocean, looking into the fire…Those are the simplest smallest minimalist experiences…and because the process is so condensed and reduced that makes them the more powerful.” Relating it back to her practice she concludes: “I think quite often with jewellery people are thinking of where can they put another little diamond or another little swirl. For me, when a piece is done I am thinking what else can I take away to make it less busy.” This doing away with, condensing, distilling, until, one is left with a piece’s true essence is at the heart of all of her designs.

Curling Crest of A Wave in recycled silver. Image Courtesy of U Decker
Curling Crest of A Wave Ring in recycled silver. Image Courtesy of U Decker

The idea of embedded energy is another concept that for Decker has great resonance, citing Alexander Calder she expands “…what really gives me joy looking at his work is you see little images and videos of how he makes things and that joy that he brings across. And every time I look at one of his pieces I see that maker’s smile.” Making and the physicality and personality she brings to pieces is what posits Decker’s work most in the jewellery-artist category. “My hands think in three dimensions so I need to actually make and experiment” she says adding “I never draw anything. I couldn’t draw this (she gestures to her wrist, where she is wearing an iteration of the Orbit bracelet),…I just play and experiment and by the end of it something completely different will fit.” She is happy to see her pieces as wearable sculptures but it was only when the opportunity of making a large scale piece for a client came about that she realised how wedded she was to her particular process: “It was a wonderful budget and I thought ‘Yeah, I always wanted to make larger sculptures and here is an opportunity, someone is commissioning me!’ But I must say that the process was less satisfying because I had to hand it over to a fabricator. I was no longer the person…for me it is really important that my hands, that I am involved, it is that joy in the creative process.” Just as with Calder, her energy, her essence, indeed her joy, are intrinsic to the completed work. “I don’t think I am a designer because it can’t be replicated. I can’t give it to someone else never mind do so myself.” Again, she resists easy categorisation: “I actually find it very difficult with the nomenclature thing as well, and it seems to be [more about ]what people are thinking.” And as already explored Decker is loath to allow external gazes to qualify or quantify who she is or what she does. She smiles before finally conceding “Jewellery artist is probably the closest term. There is an artistic expression. There are some thoughts and constructs and concepts that while not at the beginning of my process are certainly part of it…that is probably the main reason I would say jewellery artist. But I am definitely also a maker.”  Indeed, her work is represented at one of London’s most renowned galleries for jewellery-artists, Elisabetta Cipriani.

ManRay Swan in Bi-Metal (recycled silver and Fairtrade Gold) Image Courtesy of U Decker
ManRay Swan Ring in Bi-Metal (recycled silver and Fairtrade Gold) Image Courtesy of U Decker

 

Activism and Jewellery

Jewellery was never going to be just about adornment given Decker’s background. “I am very politically interested, I studied Political Economics at the University of Hamburg, lived in Paris, and spent some time at the UN in Vienna and was involved with the climate talks” Unlikely to content herself with trotting out superficial statements to her conscience or her clients’, Decker wanted to ensure that her jewellery was as equally imbued with her values as it was with her aesthetics. She expands: “Being part of a bigger picture, working with fairly traded gold, being part of the whole earth and community is important to me. I don’t just want to make art for art’s sake. I like to express certain sentiments but also be part of the solution of the issues that are important to me…When I studied there was a whole course on the meaning of work. Who am I in this world? How do I fit in? Do I fit in to the anonymous production or do I want my work to be more meaningful to myself and to the greater context?” It was these questions, coupled with her news journalism background that prompted her into deeper investigations on ethical mining, sourcing and production. The private endeavour resulted in a rejection of using gemstones: “The Kimberley Process ( the global agreement that came about in light of negative publicity on so called blood or conflict diamonds) is not worth the paper it is typed on. There are no ethical diamonds, there are no fair trade diamonds, there are some that are better than others like Canadian diamonds with more traceability, but…” She trails off and shrugs, incredulous that the general public has by and large swallowed the notion of ethical diamonds when many gemstones for the most part, still come from parts of the world which have either historically or are currently in the midst of political, socioeconomic and human rights tumult. It is for this reason that Decker herself continues to not use gemstones in any of her collections and subsequently focused her investigations on precious metals.

Calligraphy Rings in Fairtrade Gold. Image: Jamie Trounce
Calligraphy Rings in Fairtrade Gold. Image: Jamie Trounce

We alight on the first online ethical jewellery directory that she created, that was previously housed on her brand’s website but now has a permanent home on ethicalmaking.org which is a partnership between Decker and the Incorporation of Goldsmiths, Scotland, she adds: “Metals have an incredible footprint, it’s an incredibly dirty business whether it is from the environmental perspective or in terms of human rights and exploitation…It’s an absolute horror story. And when I read about that horror story my first reaction was ‘Oh my God, I cannot be part of this. I cannot use these materials.’ Surely there must be some gold or some silver that has been mined in a more environmentally friendly fashion… I didn’t start off thinking I am going to build the world’s most comprehensive ethical jewellery directory. It was just one piece after the next piece…I put it all online and that opened up conversations.”

Chaos Brooch and Earrings in Fairtrade Gold. Image: Jamie Trounce
Chaos Brooch and Earrings in Fairtrade Gold. Image: Jamie Trounce

This is not to say that her activities were met with universal support within the jewellery community. In spite of sustainability and ethical having recently not so much become buzz terms as mantras that all must adhere to, there was push-back. Reflecting back on those early beginnings she relates: “I talked to other jewellers and some of them were like, ‘Yeah, I might be interested.’ But at the beginning there was a lot of hostility from other jewellers because once you start talking about ethical you open up a can of worms…. If you say ‘ethical’ [jewellery] there must conversely be unethical jewellery. So the jewellery world didn’t like it.” Of the ongoing trend for jewellery houses both small and independent and large conglomerates to tout their ethical credentials she warns that consumers should be “aware of ‘greenwashing’, which I now think is the biggest danger… what we have now is a proliferation of claims and the Responsible Jewellery Council which already sounds fabulous and if you go on the website you would think you were on the website of Greenpeace… but in fact it is just an industry association…all the big mining companies and a lot of the big diamond companies are in there and now everybody says ‘our diamonds are sourced responsibly Kimberley Process and our metals whatever are also responsibly certified or we are getting it from a Responsible Jewellery Council source.’ Both of them are utterly meaningless but as a consumer you think ‘Oh, fantastic all of them are sourcing ethically.”

Rolling Waves Moonlight Brooch in Fairtrade Gold. Image Courtesy of U Decker
Rolling Waves Moonlight Brooch in Fairtrade Gold. Image Courtesy of U Decker

Clarity of information is something of particular importance to Decker who in addition to her jewellery practice lectures and continues to lobby for greater traceability of where metals are from for both creatives such as herself, seeking to be ethical in their sourcing and consumers who want to be assured that what they are choosing to purchase is truly ethical. On her own journey one pivotal connection was with Greg Valerio an agrarian, artisanal mining and ethical trade activist. “Someone told me about Greg Valerio who really is the hero of the whole story. He comes from a human rights background and started an ethical human rights shop…. he also found out about a small mining co=operative in Columbia called Oro Verde – and they worked on the same values and principles such as re-foresting and such… And then he went to the Fairtrade Foundation and said ‘guys you must get on board, we must have something certified…because there are so many ethical claims’. So that is how the first fair trade gold came about.” Decker is also eager to qualify the difference between Fairtrade and fair-trade, something most consumers wouldn’t immediately differentiate between; “It is also very important to note that the word fair trade with a hyphen or small letters is not protected. But Fairtrade one word and capitalised is…Fairtrade standards involves women’s rights and also economic rights, strict environmental standards and the money is invested, so we are paying a fair price but we are also paying a Fairtrade premium. And that premium the community can then decide what they need….So it is the community that jointly decides what they need most. It is investing in schools and people need to understand it is not some kind of ‘aid’, it is paying a bloody fair price.” Her and Valerio continue to raise awareness and campaign, often appearing on panels together.

Rose Ring in Fairtrade Gold. Image: Jamie Trounce
Rose Ring in Fairtrade Gold. Image: Jamie Trounce

Empowerment, Conscious Consumption and Future Plans

For Decker empowerment does not stop with elucidating stakeholders of the ethical jewellery movement. It also comes via her invitation to wearers in the co-creation process. “I give my pieces relatively abstract names. I have a thought of what they make me feel or what they remind me of but then the title is abstract enough to invite others in.” She uses her collection Orbit to illustrate the point asking me what I think it reminds me of before concluding, “So when I said orbit, I was thinking in terms of the solar system but you were thinking of chemical elements and atoms and that is beautiful…individual empowerment and individual expression combine in my jewellery.”

Orbit Bracelet in recycled silver. Image Courtesy of U Decker
Orbit Bracelet in recycled silver. Image Courtesy of U Decker

Occasionally, with her private clients the tables will be turned. She reminisces, “There is one wonderful collector in New York who commissioned me for a piece…her brief was ‘wild and abandon’ but I have to be able to type in it’.” The process took a year but it was precisely because Decker had a plethora of ideas that she explored fully before settling on the one that she felt was best. Inevitably, she returned to her eastern philosophical principles adding: “There is a concept in Japanese philosophy aesthetic called Ma, which could be translated as emptiness…for us in the west emptiness is a negative. But the concept there is if it is empty, it has all the possibilities opening up.” Allowing time to be inspired, to play, to dream and ultimately make are key in her creative process, as she waits on ideas to have their full fruition. Clients in turn are encouraged to exercise patience and trust that the beautiful synergies and work will emerge. It can also ultimately result in a less exhausted earth as we are all forced to consume less and not expect every desire and whim to be met immediately.

Silk Folds Bracelet in Recycled Silver. Image: Elke Bock
Silk Folds Bracelet in Recycled Silver. Image: Elke Bock

As our conversation comes to an end I pose to Decker whether she sees jewellery as another pit-stop in her portfolio career or the arena in which she intends to stay. She pauses before responding: “We could say jewellery is totally unnecessary, we have enough stuff in this world and with the materials and the issues, do I need to make jewellery? But I think making very few pieces, making pieces that count, that are not just in and out of fashion before you can blink, is worthwhile. Sometimes clients come and say ‘oh yes, I bought this at your very first exhibition and I have been wearing it all the time’, and hearing that gives me so much joy.” Decker has a mind that is so agile and a seemingly insatiable curiosity and desire to share knowledge and beauty, that it feels unlikely that jewellery in and of itself will be an adequate framework for what. Has already been a considerable body of work. However, jewellery redefined and deconstructed within her broad locus of concerns and passions has become a much more nuanced proposition in and of itself. All creative disciplines need a dose of disruption to truly evolve, Decker is doing this for jewellery one sculptural, beautiful, ethically produced piece at a time.

Articulation Neck Piece in recycled silver. Image Courtesy of U Decker
Articulation Neck Piece in recycled silver. Image Courtesy of U Decker