Rabun The Radiant: A Career Observed, Part 2

“The most important thing that you can do is strengthen your design language. It takes time. It takes a lot of patience and practice, sitting down and asking yourself the same questions; why am I designing jewellery? Why do I do this and what do I want to say with my work?” It is mid afternoon on a surprisingly hot early Autumn’s day in London and Jacqueline Rabun, is in a reflective mood as our discussion moves on from her beginnings ( which you can read more about in the previous post) to legacies, impact and the work still to be done. When I ask what is the raison d’être to why she continues three decades on to design and create jewellery and objects for her legion of collectors and fans globally; unsurprisingly for an interview subject who has proved both profoundly sensitive and ethereally gracious, it is not a case of making adornments for the sake of. “I believe that it is important for jewellery to make you feel empowered, uplifted and calm. It needs to make you feel inspired and that’s really important in my work. [Subsequently] I also try to keep my energy in a certain place because I know when you are creating something, the idea needs to be born with the right energy. And when an idea is born out of the right energy, the world will embrace it.” It is a truism that would resonate with many creatives, the proverbial reaping what you sow, and thus the need to sow with the right ‘head and heart space’ but Rabun’s assertion goes beyond the jewellery she designs to the spaces it inhabits both before and after purchase. In this second part of a special retrospective, we look at the myriad of ways in which she has played the role of pioneer in the jewellery industry, how recent conversations on inclusivity have brought challenges and opportunities and how she sees her contribution evolving in the years to come.

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Portrait of Jacqueline Rabun, Image: Courtesy of J Rabun
Portrait of Jacqueline Rabun, Image: Courtesy of J Rabun

Changing the Marketplace

Think High Jewellery and one’s mind wonders to rarefied rooms upholstered in tasteful creams and beige with impossibly coiffed assistants hovering to attend to your needs and discretely placed security, ensuring you don’t do anything dastardly. For the habitual client this set up with its unsaid codes of conduct might be easy to navigate, but for a freethinker like Rabun it was stifling and desperately in need of change. In many ways reflecting the seminal 1998 essay “Welcome to the Experience Economy” published in the Harvard Business Review by B Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore which stated that ‘An experience occurs when a company intentionally uses services as the stage and goods as the props to engage individual customers in a way that creates a memorable event.’ Rabun’s stand alone jewellery store in Belgravia ( a first for a person of colour) was very much a retail event. Situated in a converted mews house, the interiors riffed on the domestic luxury experience, with a hanging canopy of plants, and jewellery positioned in unexpected places, such as inside an antique desk, ready to be ‘discovered’ by the browsing client. The store itself did away with the burly security guard at the front door and customers could wander around with a piece on their body and get a ‘feel’ for it in a seemingly homely setting. The space also opened its doors to artists with exhibitions, dinners and talks all part of the calendar of events. She adds “I wanted the store to be welcoming and a place where you were transformed the minute you walked through the door. I wanted the overwhelming feeling that you took away to be a sense of well being. A lot of clients would come in and they would say, ‘ooh I don’t want to leave and go out into the world’ because it was very calm. We were very conscious about everything, we always burned sandalwood for instance as sandalwood purified the air, basically it was about touching all of the senses in every way.” Of course now, we have gotten used to this sort of set up: from the Matches.com townhouse in Carlos Place in Mayfair and the Burberry flagship store in Regent Street and countless others in other global cities with their gallery shows, concerts and cups of tea and wine dispensed as much as any item we  might wish to wear. However, actualising this in the mid noughties, Rabun was arguably one of the first, and particularly so in the jewellery sector.

Interior of Jacqueline Rabun Store, Image Courtesy of J Rabun
Interior of Jacqueline Rabun Store, Image Courtesy of J Rabun

Rabun is passionate about architecture and it has had a profound effect on her jewellery practice, both in terms of inspiration and how she presents her work. “I really love John Lautner…If you live in a John Lautner house it represents living as a free spirit and that is my attraction to it.” She notes of the Californian architect whose light flooded designs have inspired many since. She adds “Richard Neutra gives you the same feeling, it is that school of architecture that was centred around case studies about how we live , and how are we going to live in the future, [and] that is how they were thinking. Now when you look at those houses they are just as modern and so many architects have been inspired by that way of living. However, ultimately those houses for me represent freedom, serenity and the ideal way to live.” In her own way, Rabun has enthused similar concept into her retail spaces. When she moved operations to her loft-cum-atelier in Clerkenwell, the guiding principles of light filled spaces that were simultaneously welcoming and calm, was adhered to. And as is the way when what you’re offering is truly special both spaces had extensive features in World of Interiors and Rabun herself was invited by the global design and furniture pioneer store, Habitat to curate a space in their store that reflected her design aesthetic.

Jacqueline Rabun Clerkenwell Studio: Image Courtesy of J Rabun
Jacqueline Rabun Clerkenwell Studio: Image Courtesy of J Rabun
Jacqueline Rabun Clerkenwell Studio, Image Courtesy of J Rabun
Jacqueline Rabun Clerkenwell Studio, Image Courtesy of J Rabun

Finally, another area where Rabun is considered a pioneer is in the popularising of naming collections and not just ‘star turn’ pieces, suites or the gemstones utilised themselves. Reflecting on her long-term collaboration with Georg Jensen she notes that “Nicholas (Manville, Chief Creative Officer at Georg Jensen) said I was the first designer to start naming their collections and he said that you’re the only designer at Georg Jensen that has a story to tell that is emotional around your work. No one else does it.” In seeking to put a name to the emotional landscape that a jewellery series inhabits and the feelings it solicits and not just the gemstones involved or the pieces created, Rabun charted new ground for what has become standard practice today.

The Mercy Series. Jacqueline Rabun for Georg Jensen. Image Courtesy of J Rabun
The Mercy Series. Jacqueline Rabun for Georg Jensen. Image Courtesy of J Rabun

Challenging Seasons

A career as long as Rabun’s does not occur without incident. Both on a global level; witnessing recessions, pandemics, conversations on racism and gender parity and inclusivity, as well as on a personal level: building and maintaining a business, raising a family and spending many years away from home. Inevitably, we alight on the topic of race, an issue that has been re-ignited with the murder of George Floyd and the unprecedented protests that occurred in its wake, but as Rabun points out, none of this is new: “African-Americans particularly have always had it hard because of the history of slavery in America. We really have had to fight for equality and the right to simply express ourselves. We have had to fight for the bare minimum.” When I ask her about how the recent protests, online debates and discourses affect the jewellery industry and the challenges therein her response is refreshingly frank. “I think that it has to start with us.” Expanding on her thesis Rabun adds “We have to develop our voice around our work. It has to be emotive… I think that is the big starting point…Also I really believe it is your experience and the road you travel down that actually develops your design skills and even those things that are negative such as rejection and being overlooked can actually be the most powerful fuel.” A lot of the discourses have been about inclusion based on past injustices and structural prejudices that work against people of colour. However, Rabun also points out that once space has been found at the proverbial table, the offering has to be compelling if it is to be successful long term. It is a piquant reminder that getting attention, press, accolades and even public apologies is very different to building a commercially viable and successful business. In our age of chasing likes, fame and mentions her approach which puts the work, development of a unique voice and building the client base back in the forefront feels almost novel.

Black Love Ring in Oxidised Silver. Image, Courtesy of J Rabun
Black Love Ring in Oxidised Silver. Image, Courtesy of J Rabun

This is not to say that her work has not been influenced by or responded to race and racial issues. Her ‘Black Love’ series ,designed in 2015 “was a symbolic gesture around the injustices met out to African Americans and was a response in particular to 2014, when so many young men were being murdered. It was also focused around the idea that we as black people simultaneously bring so much actual love, creativity and joy Into the world but also need to find space to live and to find the beauty in that struggle, which is not easy.” To evoke these varied notions Rabun reimagined the classic heart classic motif: “It is made from two seed forms as the seed is also a symbol of new beginnings and life itself. The seeds come together to form a heart shape and when they come together they cradle into one another.” The series is available in oxidised silver which takes on a black appearance, yellow and white gold, and in light of the tumultuous events of this year has gained added poignancy. She also hoped it would encourage greater self-love for black people, who could wear the pieces as one would a talisman, reminding them of how amazing, precious and valued they are in a world that systemically is designed to often make them feel the opposite.

Black Love Pendant in 18kt Yellow Gold. Image Courtesy of J Rabun
Black Love Pendant in 18kt Yellow Gold. Image Courtesy of J Rabun

Rabun is quick to correct a misconception that hers has always been a charmed existence, thus making her out of touch with practitioners, particularly those of colour, currently struggling. “I was thinking about this, this morning. When I was younger, I remember that with my parents we never left the house unless we were immaculate and shiny which is quite a lot for a small person….[but] 1960s America was very racist so if we walked out the door looking our let’s say Sunday Best, that was our armour. They could hate us if they wanted to because we were black but they couldn’t get us on anything else…. So I obviously can understand what people are feeling, younger designers…I will speak about the jewellery world because in some ways it is a little bit more challenging than fashion as an industry. I think the art of patience and perseverance is really important and I think developing a strong design language, a strong voice, and imagery around your work is crucial. Fortunately, we now have amazing social media channels where you can do that. It doesn’t have to cost a fortune and I think that is what is so great about the moment that we are living in; you can have your own vision and your own world and you can express it on your platform and no one can stop you from doing that. And you can find your customers directly too. But I do think the most important thing is just developing your very strong identity so that when people see your ring for example they know it’s you. They don’t need your name. If you just put a piece of jewellery on the table they know. That is when you are winning to me.”

Beautiful Ring in 18kt White and Yellow Gold. Image Courtesy of J Rabun
Beautiful Ring in 18kt White and Yellow Gold and Pave Diamonds. Image Courtesy of J Rabun

Regarding the 2008 recession which hit hard in the jewellery industry community, she reminisces “Yes, it was a challenging time for me and my business but it was also great time for me to focus on my intention. On how I move forward with my business. Also I had more time to create new collections and I also took time to just research and come up with a new way to approach my craft. But I did have a few collections that were quite commercial and they kept my business going which included the Alphabet Series and also the Wyatt and Beautiful Series. I think with any business there is always going to be ups and downs and challenging times. It is just a case of figuring out how do you ride through the storm to get to the sunshine? I think that is the challenge, and if you do it gracefully all will work out as it is meant to.” In many ways it takes courage and tenacity to not be overwhelmed or fatigued by structural injustices, but Rabun’s whole career has been underpinned by a determined pursuit of excellence regardless of the obstacles she may find in her path. When I ask her of who in the current crop of black jewellery designers she is enamoured by she replies with a smile; “Emefa Cole is great. When I look at her work you can feel a lot of emotion and you can feel that she has a very distinct vision about jewellery, that she is really focused, that she has got her own thing going on she has a very clear language and you can see that she is developing it and it is beautiful.”

Alphabet Series in 18kt Yellow Gold. Image Courtesy of J Rabun
Alphabet Series in 18kt Yellow Gold and Pave Diamonds. Image Courtesy of J Rabun

Rabun also cites a memorable event where she met the feted jewellery designer Vivianna Torun as giving her a sense of perspective and a real life exemplar of resilience and its power. “I met Vivianna Torun during the centenary celebrations for Georg Jensen in 2004 and at the time she wasn’t very well so we weren’t sure she was going to be attending the press conference and later that evening the gala…Other jewellery designers were there including Nana Ditzel but then suddenly you could feel this very beautiful energy near the door and we all turned around and looked and there she was. She had such an amazing aura that the whole room went silent and…this powerful positive spirit just came in to the room.” She pauses, before adding “Some people have that ability to shift energy when they walk in the room and she was one of those people one hundred percent. I met her and and I met her daughter Marcia who is amazing as well and we had a lovely moment together where we took a tour of the exhibition that was being held at the National Museum in Copenhagen.” Torun’s work was featured prominently in the centenary exhibition celebrating the Danish heritage house, as were other designers including Rabun herself. She concludes: “It was just beautiful… the three of us at the exhibition…It was one of those moments where you know it was meant to be.” The meeting was especially poignant for Rabun as she had long admired Torun: “The only designer who I have actually bought their pieces is Vivianna Torun, I think for so many reasons I connect with it. I love it aesthetically, I love her work ethic and I love that she was courageous. She was a Swedish woman who married an African American man in the 60s and lived in France when that wasn’t such an easy thing to do. She had mixed race children and they got a lot of abuse and through all of that she continued designing. It would have been so easy for her to just stop, of course…and I know that she struggled..but she just persevered through it all and then left to live in Jakarta and set up a studio there whilst still designing for Georg Jensen and at this studio they created all her pieces so the community was thriving too.” Purpose and fortitude are a running theme and preferred connection point for Rabun, who in many ways possesses the same qualities.

Wyatt Love Cuff in 18kt Gold. Image Courtesy of J Rabun
Wyatt Love Cuff in 18kt Gold. Image Courtesy of J Rabun

A Living Legacy

With numerous professional achievements under her belt, and zero desire to rest on her laurels, Rabun has been paying a lot of attention to her legacy and leveraging her influence to assist the next generation. Prior to the spread of Covid19 and the ensuing global lockdown, a trip to India precipitated a spiritual re-awakening, one which gave her a vision of how she could best use her talents to serve the greatest good. Collaboration and the power it has to unlock talent, create wealth and break down barriers to inclusion was at the forefront of her mind. She elaborates: “I do feel a responsibility to the next generation and mentorship is something that I do with a few design students…but we can definitely do more, particularly between African-Americans and Africans. I think that it’s very important that we collaborate on ideas that empower us and other people of colour in the world.” She has visited Senegal frequently and a recent trip to Nigeria and a trip to Ghana that was sadly postponed due to the pandemic were the beginnings of a framework she was creating to develop greater opportunities for cross pollination of ideas and expansion of opportunities.

Jacqueline Rabun Clerkenwell Studio. Image Courtesy of J Rabun
Jacqueline Rabun Clerkenwell Studio. Image Courtesy of J Rabun

The season of self-reflection has also brought a strong tug to her country of origin, which is on the cusp of a potentially seismic change politically [since this interview took place, Joe Biden has won the US Presidential Election] She notes: “This is an important time for us politically. It is a very difficult time, it is a very challenging time but it is also the time for the work, for our creativity, for our talent, for our skills. I think that this is the moment. We are seeing changes and I am going to remain optimistic and say we will see more.” She is currently re-evaluating her own potential role in that story and is in touch with a number of her peers who share a similar vision such as architect David Adjaye who returned to Accra after decades spent in the UK and US: “I think it is important that David has gone back to Ghana, to be part of that new story, and it is my intention to spend part of my time in America as well. I have been in England for thirty years but I think it is an important time for me to perhaps inspire the next generation of young jewellery designers or young women that probably have no idea that it is possible to enter this realm. If I can open that door for them that [would be] very powerful and I think it is my duty to do that.”

Carl Aubock X Jacqueline Rabun Collaboration for SigmarGallery. Image courtesy of J Rabun
Carl Aubock X Jacqueline Rabun Collaboration for Wallpaper Handmade and Sigmar Gallery. Image courtesy of J Rabun

Although it has always been about the jewellery, and her work in its development, refinement and expansion of parameters speaks to this, Rabun has paradoxically always been so much more than a jewellery designer. For designers younger than her, she is an emblem of  what it looks like to be at the top of your game, without compromising your vision or pandering to systems or individuals that might think less of you by virtue of your gender or colour or both. Her humility regardless of her position as the world’s most famous and lauded black jewellery designer, is seen in how she neither courts or is occupied by the trappings of fame. She is grateful  for recognition but her eyes visibly light up when talking about the work itself, how it has developed or the themes explored in particular series. She is equally animated when speaking of the. transformative power jewellery has had on clients’ lives, how a piece has become a much treasured family heirloom, or takes a wearer back to particular point in time when they were happiest. She also loves setting herself a new challenge, as her continued interest in designing objects illustrates. She has always designed objects for her own personal use, but the remit has expanded, and was seen most notably in a collaboration for Wallpaper Magazine’s Handmade Project with the Vienna based studio of Carl Aubock overseen by Nina Hertig of  Sigmar Gallery. The finished pieces were first exhibited at London Design Festival in 2017, and Rabun is set to do more projects in a similar vein in the future. Tellingly, her Instagram biography describes her as an ‘artist’, and this feels the more accurate nomenclature. Jacqueline Rabun is an artist and jewellery just happens to be her preferred medium. Henri Matisse famously said “Creativity takes courage.” and courage has anchored the ethos and governed the methodology of Rabun’s career so far. It takes guts to move continents, without a golden parachute or a bulging contact book and build a successful business doing what you love. Coupled with undeniable talent and a quiet confidence that destiny was guiding her steps and she became an unstoppable force. Personal preferences aside, the best art and the greatest artists attempt to express truth and share truths with the world. Rabun, ever generous invites us to do so twice; first in the selecting of the truths we wish to reveal with our jewellery choices, and secondly in inviting us in the wearing, to share those truths with others.

Rabun The Radiant: A Career Observed, Part 1

“I started designing jewellery that spoke to me, because there wasn’t much jewellery I wanted to wear…I wasn’t really sure where it was going of course, but I knew it would find its place” reflects Jacqueline Rabun in the first of two Zoom calls in which we discuss her three decades and counting career in jewellery design. Immediately evident in her opening answer is the power of intent married with application. The impetus for designing began with her, she was neither creating with an ideal client in mind or at the mercies of a ‘market’ to court or appease. This unapologetic approach has brought dividends although not without challenges along the way. Rabun is motivated by a passion and desire to actualise an alternative design offering, one that is rooted in her own experiences and values. It is this distinct point of view that has seen her contribution to the jewellery world not only unequivocal, but also a catalyst for opening the doors to wider participation in the industry as a whole.

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Mercy Ring, Jacqueline Rabun for Georg Jensen. Image Courtesy of J Rabun
Mercy Ring in White Gold , Jacqueline Rabun for Georg Jensen. Image Courtesy of J Rabun

Of course, it is easy to eulogise from the vantage point of a career of her length and breadth which contains within it the ‘holy grail’ of commercial success, critical acclaim and continued resonance in the here and now from peers and design aficionados alike. But Rabun’s is a story that is first and foremost anchored by jewellery that found it’s way onto the bodies of many and intriguingly varied clients; from rock stars and supermodels to business leaders and members of royal families all over the world. Coupled with this is her prodigious work ethic and a tenacity that hasn’t let setbacks, curveballs or racism, derail her from her goals. Rabun is softly spoken, with an accent that sits squarely in the mid-Atlantic but without any of the international-jet-set affectations that many have come to associate with such. Dressed in a deceptively simple yet perfectly cut white tunic, her hair pulled back, skin clear and eyes animated, she appears the embodiment of a woman seated confidently and elegantly in her power, who hasn’t been discombobulated by the uncertain, pandemic ridden times we are all living in. When I note this she laughs: “I carry on as I always have” which for her is working largely from home as she straddles her work for her eponymous brand and her long term collaboration with Scandinavian heritage jewellery house, Georg Jensen.

An Autodidact Finds Her Voice and Place

Rabun surprisingly did not train as a jeweller: “I studied fashion design at the Fashion Institute in San Francisco, that was the world I always thought that I would be a part of… My mother taught me to sew, and I actually knew how to cut a pattern and make my own clothes from a really early age. But as I was studying fashion design something came over me and I felt as though this wasn’t my world anymore… the fashion industry is amazing but I guess I was quite sensitive at the time…so I stopped and by pure accident I started working at a jewellery gallery, a very beautiful one in Los Angeles , called the M Gallery and it was like no other space I had ever been to.” In many ways the M Gallery was the perfect training ground for Rabun’s own as yet conceived design practice. Proprietor Michael Dawkins had a curatorial approach, with collections by jewellery-artists, architects and other interdisciplinary practitioners that didn’t fit the classic high jewellery mould, finding a home in his destination space that attracted an eclectic clientele who were drawn to contemporary and directional pieces. At home, inspired by what she saw, Rabun started experimenting: “I started teaching myself: first how to design and then how to actually make. I am a better designer than maker, but I can do it if I have to” she adds laughing.

Portrait of Jacqueline Rabun. Image Courtesy of J Rabun
Portrait of Jacqueline Rabun. Image Courtesy of J Rabun

Romance precipitated a move to London in 1989 and it was here that her processes and her ideas solidified. Her first collection, Raw Elegance, launched in 1990 was a commercial triumph with Barney’s New York an immediate stockist – unheard of for a new designer, never mind a female black one. Rabun herself is uncomfortable with using the term ‘collection’, with its undertones of ‘in today, out tomorrow’, and prefers the term ‘series’ which hints to a continuum of states and a revisiting and exploration of themes, a notion that ties in with both her first and all her consequent bodies of work. Speaking of what it was that drew in a retail behemoth like Barney’s and the slew of luxury stores around the world to stock her immediately she expands: “I think it was because it was unlike any other jewellery they were stocking at the time. It was quite masculine but there were feminine undertones. It was very organic and natural using shapes and forms that follow the lines of the body and it was just very different for that moment.” Crucially, Raw Elegance coincided with the genesis of reimagining gender boundaries in fashion and beauty and that was to be a hallmark of the 90s: Calvin Klein’s unisex fragrance CKOne, was the scent of the decade, Jean-Paul Gaultier had a mixed gender fashion show in Paris for his Spring/Summer 1994 collections and indie bands with effete lead singers such as Blur with their anthem to blurred gender role boundaries Girls & Boys ruled the airwaves. For the jewellery world Raw Elegance was an early presentation of similar ideas – themes that many jewellery brands have since explored and developed.

A Selection of Pieces from Raw Elegance Series. Image: Courtesy of J Rabun
A Selection of Pieces from Raw Elegance Series. Image: Courtesy of J Rabun

London in the 90s was arguably the coolest city on earth, with a creative renaissance not seen since the swinging 60s. It was the decade that saw the dominance of British fashion designers with John Galliano at Dior, Alexander McQueen at Givenchy and Stella McCartney at Chloe dictating how the world dressed. The Young British Artists or YBAs as they were collectively known, all featured in Sensation, an exhibition at the Royal Academy of Art in 1997 that placed fine art at the heart of pop-culture. In the jewellery world, Rabun alongside Shaun Leane designed pieces that were in diametric opposition to the ostentatious 80’s aesthetic and resonated with subcultures in what was then an edgy East London and bourgeois West London bohemians alike. Looking back at the cross-pollinating and dynamic energy of the city then Rabun remarks “when I first moved to London in about a week I met Judy Blame through a friend and he loved my work, so he immediately used a couple of my pieces for Neneh Cherry.” The fortuitous meeting with the legendary uber=stylist brought her into contact with others luminaries. “It all happened very organically, I have to be honest. It was all very word of mouth because of course we didn’t have social media, but pretty quickly I was connected with a few people at I-D Magazine and I had some articles in I-D, The Face, Dazed, thinking back I had a lot of publicity” The coup de grace was landing the cover of British Vogue’s September 1992 issue with Linda Evangelista adorned in pieces from the now extended Raw Elegance Series. “I guess that was one of the little signs that were a cosmic okay, you’re moving in the right direction. Because actually when you start off in a career where you haven’t actually studied and trained and you have taught yourself, you always question whether you are doing the right thing.” From there, her star was fully in ascendant, with musicians particularly drawn to her work. Madonna, Whitney Houston, U2 and Lenny Kravitz were just some of her many A List clients. Living in London, which at the time was the de facto laboratory of new ideas across multiple creative disciplines had an undoubtedly positive effect on Rabun’s own practise.

September 1992  British Vogue Cover. Image by Peter Lindbergh
September 1992 British Vogue Cover. Image by Peter Lindbergh

Distilling Her Design Language

Rabun is unabashed in her love for design and it seeps into every aspect of her life. The slither of her home visible on the screen, is dotted with beautiful artwork and artefacts picked up from her travels. She relates that her passion for mid-century furniture has resulted in a considerable collection, some of which is in storage. It is illustrative of a woman for whom aesthetics across all touch points are of profound importance. But for Rabun it is more than surface level prettiness informing her. “When I speak about design language it is about the shape and form of a particular object but it is also the story behind that body of work. For me, my whole design language is about the human experience…each one of my bodies of work is definitely inspired by what I am going through in my life which is probably what everyone else goes through as well,”.In many ways the clues are there in the names of the series of work: Love Distance  for instance features two rings with corresponding curves that unite when together but look equally beautiful on their own speak to a long distance relationship. And her first collaboration with Georg Jensen, Offspring, was inspired by the birth of her son: “Offspring is about the unbreakable bond between mother and child and a lot of women go through this…[and] the actual shapes of the pieces are taken from an egg form and eggs are the beginning of life, so it is symbolic of new beginnings. When you have a child your life begins anew and there are challenges but even when it is difficult you’re still in it. It is unbreakable.”

 Love Distance Rings in Yellow and White Gold. Image: Courtesy of J Rabun
Love Distance Rings in Yellow and White Gold. Image: Courtesy of J Rabun

 

Love Distance Rings in Sterling Silver. Image Courtesy of J Rabun
Love Distance Rings in Sterling Silver. Image Courtesy of J Rabun

 

Offspring Bracelet in Sterling Silver. Jacqueline Rabun for Georg Jensen. Image courtesy of J Rabun
Offspring Bracelet in Sterling Silver. Jacqueline Rabun for Georg Jensen. Image courtesy of J Rabun

 

Offspring Bangle in Sterling  Silver. Jacqueline Rabun for Georg Jensen. Image courtesy of J Rabun
Offspring Bangle in Sterling Silver. Jacqueline Rabun for Georg Jensen. Image courtesy of J Rabun

 

Offspring Earring in Sterling Silver. Jacqueline Rabun for Georg Jensen. Image Courtesy of J Rabun
Offspring Earring in Sterling Silver. Jacqueline Rabun for Georg Jensen. Image Courtesy of J Rabun

Her collaboration with Georg Jensen is how Rabun is perhaps best known. Indeed many wonder how an American based in London came on the radar of the Danish heritage house that has been seen as the custodian of Scandinavian design. As with much of Rabun’s story serendipity met with an impressive body of work, she relates “I have a friend who is in fashion and I went out to dinner with her and her partner and they invited Mark Olm who is a Danish photographer and he mentioned that Georg Jensen were looking for designers and he thought my work would be perfect and he happened to know someone there, So he basically spoke to them the next day, gave them my telephone number and we emailed but it wasn’t a thing. I got a telephone call the next day the design director from the jewellery came to see me and then gave me a brief and we were working together.” The whole process from dinner to commencing work took ten days. Astonishing by any measure. But when I gasp in exclamation Rabun adds that she views it as manifestation for both parties as Jensen were looking for someone and she too was seeking to expand her horizons after by that point, nine commercially successful years in business. Most critical to the speed of engagement was her design language which she notes “has an equal dose of Scandinavian and African influences and interestingly there is a lot of Scandinavian jewellery where you can see the designer is very knowledgeable about African jewellery.” Certainly the collaboration which commenced in 1999 with Offspring launched in 2001 and then rebooted for 2018 has been beneficial for both parties. Offspring, is as time of publication, Georg Jensen’s bestselling jewellery collection.

Mercy Bangle in Yellow Gold. Jacqueline Rabun for Georg Jensen. Image Courtesy of J Rabun
Mercy Bangle in Yellow Gold. Jacqueline Rabun for Georg Jensen. Image Courtesy of J Rabun

 

Mercy Rings. Jacqueline Rabun for Georg Jensen. Image Courtesy of J Rabun
Mercy Rings. Jacqueline Rabun for Georg Jensen. Image Courtesy of J Rabun

Rabun continued to plough the myriad of human experiences and emotions for other series with the heritage house. Cave launched in 2002, a series celebrated amongst jewellery connoisseurs globally who are clamouring for its re=issue, featured concave circular forms occasionally with pave diamonds in a hollowed form. It was a comment at the need to sometimes retreat and find a place for quiet contemplation and reflection. Mercy was launched in 2019 but Rabun notes “I started developing it fifteen years ago and then Georg Jensen asked kindly if they could launch it under their brand. Originally, it was designed for them but we were working on so many projects that it just never happened…but if you think about the time we are living through now it really resonates…we need a lot of mercy. There is a big need for compassion and empathy for others and to walk in somebody else’s shoes for five minutes. It is about not being selfish. It is not that moment now.” To encompass those sentiments, the sculptural forms look different from each vantage point, for both the wearer and those viewing the pieces on the wearer’s body, resulting in an exquisite metaphor for Rabun’s intention. As ever with Rabun, diamonds when utilised are done so discretely, something that some assume given her African-American heritage is unusual as African-Americans and their biggest cultural export, hip=hop are intrinsically linked with the maximalist ‘bling-bling’ aesthetic. She laughs in recognition at what is ultimately a lazy assumption: “My design language is minimalist, but actually there is a lot of African design that in itself is quite minimalist. From art, to furniture, to jewellery. As with me, there is a lot of use of organic forms and that is my link. I draw more from my African heritage, rather than the popular media stereotypes of what black glamour is. I draw more from African jewellery and African art.” It is a reflection of what for many years have been the silos of expectations creative people of colour have oftentimes had to work in. The assumption that one voice, one style, one set of experiences fits all, when in actuality, things are more nuanced and varied.

Cave Ring in Sterling Silver, Jacqueline Rabun for Georg Jensen. Image Courtesy of J Rabun
Cave Ring in Sterling Silver, Jacqueline Rabun for Georg Jensen. Image Courtesy of J Rabun

 

Cave Ring,  Yellow Gold and Pave Diamonds. Jacqueline Rabun for Georg Jensen. Image Courtesy of J Rabun
Cave Ring, Yellow Gold and Pave Diamonds. Jacqueline Rabun for Georg Jensen. Image Courtesy of J Rabun

Rabun’s eponymous line has continued to expand on her thesis of jewellery that reflects, documents and harnesses the human experience. A recent special series A Beautiful Life for the PAD Fairs in London and Paris in 2018 included a re-imagined Beautiful ring in aventurine and yellow gold as well as one featuring rutilated quartz crystal and yellow gold. There was also a pendant with a yellow gold vessel form in which a removable aventurine sits, giving the wearer the choice of removing it and holding it in their hand for on-the-go meditative purposes. The choice of gemstones for these pieces was deliberate “my work always has to be honest, I have to like the stone, I have to feel an affinity with it otherwise I cannot work with it”. In the instance of aventurine Rabun was drawn to its historical healing properties which is said to aid the nervous system. Green aventurine in particular is known in the Hindu Chakra system as a heart healer that dissolves negative thoughts for the wearer. Rabun adds “jewellery can give you a sense of security [and] If you walk out of the front door without it you feel like something is missing, I think everyone has had that experience who wears jewellery, and so it is a form of armour and I think if we take that into a spiritual realm it calms you and it gives you comfort.” When we speak of her attraction to rutilated quartz, whose beauty lies in the visible inclusions that sometimes have the appearance of spun gold thread left to form a messy  yet captivating pattern, she adds “When you look at these stones you think wow, how did that happen? How did all that imperfection arrive in that stone? I like those imperfections. Because I think that is what we are inside we are not perfect.” It is in many ways a radical proposition, especially as there is a whole sector of jewellery that is dependent on gemstones of almost supernatural perfection that will imbue their wearer with similarly polished, beguiling powers. Rabun is offering wearers to feel comforted and empowered but also vulnerable and open enough to show and share their authentic self rather than a carefully crafted facade. If the gemstones can be honest so can we.

A Beautiful Life Ring, Yellow Gold and Aventurine. Image Courtesy of J Rabun
A Beautiful Life Ring, Yellow Gold and Aventurine. Image Courtesy of J Rabun

 

A Beautiful Life Pendant, Yellow Gold and Rutilated Quartz Crystal. Image: Courtesy of J Rabun
A Beautiful Life Pendant, Yellow Gold and Rutilated Quartz Crystal. Image: Courtesy of J Rabun

Present Realities and Future Series

Whilst many creatives have been emotionally buffeted by the ‘new normal’ that Covid19 has heralded, Rabun true to form has observed the peculiar needs the season has brought with it and created solutions. “I have been quietly working on some objects for the home and some furniture.. because the home has obviously become so much more important to everyone in the world.” Expanding her canvas from the human body to a room is a natural progression. She has also used the time to reflect on how she wishes to present herself and her work moving forward. She states “I definitely prefer to be known as an artist because whilst of course my speciality is jewellery, I have designed objects furniture and sculpture.” She pauses, before adding “This word designer, I think when you have worked for a long time and you have a specific recognisable look and feel to your work it takes you in to the space of being an artist.” Her oeuvre is ever evolving, but as with many artists, it is doing so on her own terms

A Beautiful Life Ring, Yellow Gold and Rutilated Quartz Crystal. Image Courtesy of J Rabun
A Beautiful Life Ring, Yellow Gold and Rutilated Quartz Crystal. Image Courtesy of J Rabun

 

A Beautiful Life Pendant, Yellow Gold and Aventurine. Image: Courtesy of J Rabun
A Beautiful Life Pendant, Yellow Gold and Aventurine. Image: Courtesy of J Rabun

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We close our conversation with a question that Rabun is initially a little hesitant to answer, “you answer it” she challenges me jokingly, and that is how would she describe the Jacqueline Rabun aesthetic. She expands “A lot might say or think that my jewellery is organic and minimal. But it is important for me that those shapes and forms have meaning. I don’t design for design’s sake. I really need to have something to say when I am designing because there is an awful lot of jewellery in the world.” Suffusing jewellery with her own spiritual practises and beliefs is of paramount importance to her, far more than sales figures or public acclaim. “I really hope my work will have some sort of a positive impact on someone’s life, whether they feel empowered or inspired or comforted or cured. Recently, a woman who had cancer wrote to me and said she used one of my pieces as a talisman to get her through her cancer treatment. To me that is why I do what I do.” None of us fully knows how we will be remembered, but for the fortunate few such as Rabun, a body of work that speaks to her truth and resonates in such visceral and powerful way with her clients, provides a validating clue.

Exploring Melanie Eddy’s Many Facets

“Any maker wants their work to speak first” says Melanie Eddy, but when the work ranges from jeweller, to academic, to international development expert and now educational change agent, it doesn’t just speak, it shouts from the rooftops. Amongst the jewellery cognoscenti Eddy is a noted voice: her atelier situated in the heart of Clerkenwell, London’s traditional jewellery district is a destination for collectors of her arresting pieces in gold and silver that are informed by her love of architecture and geometry. As a lecturer on the MA Ceramics, Furniture and Jewellery programme at the world renowned Central Saint Martin’s, she is stewarding the next generation of creative visionaries. Furthermore, her work in the development sector has seen her spearhead programmes that use jewellery as a socio-economic catalyst and cultural anchor in post-conflict territories. A Director for the Association for Contemporary Jewellery, Eddy is to some extent part of the jewellery establishment, although her Bermudan-New Zealander heritage have oftentimes made her the only person of colour with a seat at the proverbial table and brought with it attendant challenges. Our wide ranging conversation, in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder and the resulting global protests against racism and white supremacy, inevitably turns to the lack of diversity in the jewellery world and debates around inclusivity, something that Eddy is seamlessly addressing with a practical and professional approach.

Melanie Eddy image: Nicola Muirhead
Melanie Eddy in her studio. Image by Nicola Muirhead

Tackling Diversity, Challenging Perceptions
“I have been teaching for six years at Central Saint Martins…and since I have been on the course I have not seen a jeweller come on the course who is of black heritage.” Eddy relates, in soft spoken tones that convey razor sharp analyses and somewhat uncomfortable truths, sweetened by their delicate delivery. Considering the situation from the perspective of potential students she notes “if you don’t see many exemplars from your community…people don’t visualise themselves in that space because it is removed from their reality.” Rather than merely lament the situation, Eddy has put her relationships within the industry to powerful effect. As a co=founder of the Jewellery Futures Fund,  Eddy together with Rachel Garrahan, Jewellery and Watch Director of British Vogue and Annabel Davidson, Vanity Fair’s  On Jewellery editor are responding to the issues head-on: from providing bursaries for black students, to paid internships for graduates  across the jewellery sector and grants for emerging designers and makers of colour.  It is an audacious plan of action that is a continuum of conversations she has initiated throughout her career, but which came to a head in recent weeks. “When all of this stuff was coming out people were like oh my God, this is horrible, what can we do? And I kind of was like well, actually..” She says wryly laughing at the memory: “The jewellery industry is so frigging white….There are some of us here and there needs to be more of us.”  Eddy recognises her luck in being able to complete her studies via a combination of grants, bursaries and assistance from her family and is passionate that the fund expands the participation pool so that the jewellery industry truly evolves. Significantly, the fund takes the tripartite approach of education, work experience and investing in black students and thus has the potential to address the issue in a holistic and measurable manner long after the marches hashtags and comment pieces have ceased flooding our collective feeds and timelines.

Image: Courtesy of Melanie Eddy
Geometric Gold Rings: Image: Courtesy of Melanie Eddy

Eddy’s love affair with jewellery is lifelong; “my connection to jewellery definitely came from my Mum and my grandmother because they were very stylish and they had jewellery boxes full of all kinds of treasures” It was not long before Eddy became something of an autodidact: “I was reading about gems in the school library and stuff like that and then I made a bit of jewellery at high school but with bits of glass as I didn’t have gems” However, her route into the industry wasn’t linear, initially studying for a joint honours  in English and International and Comparative Studies at the University of Western Ontario, Huron University College, as in her words “I had the grades” rather than opting for the more precarious path of full-time creative. Yet, she found her way back to jewellery although not without experiencing first hand numerous micro-aggressions as a woman of colour: “I applied to the Royal College of Art and I didn’t get accepted but not only did I not get accepted in my interview I was talked to and treated in not a very nice way to the extent that another tutor apologised and helped me apply to other institutions…I was really ripped to shreds at the interview and it really impacted me.” Neither was this an isolated incident, Eddy adds: “As the years passed jewellery [making] had started to become smaller and my other work [in the industry] became bigger because I found it easier in terms of being heard…I didn’t feel the same kind of reception in the jewellery sector. I have been turned down for exhibitions, I have been turned down for things that I have applied for and people looking at my stuff would be like how is that possible?” But whilst she leaves the question open, it is clear that the unconscious bias and overt prejudice had resulted in many decision makers within the industry either unwilling or lacking in imagination to posit her among the vanguard of jewellery designers paving the way in the early 21st century.

Topaz Engagement Ring and Wedding Band. Image: Courtesy of Melanie Eddy
Topaz Engagement Ring and Wedding Band. Image: Courtesy of Melanie Eddy

For Eddy, a clear design language has always been at the heart of her practice and has resulted in pieces that are immediately recognisable as her own. She elaborates: “For me it was really important to keep the message clear in my jewellery but it was also a contested space..people would say you are not making work about your experience or it doesn’t look like the kind of work they would expect from a black person or one from the Caribbean.” Further upending external expectations are her architectural forms and references, which for the lazy reviewer belonged to a male practitioner: “In terms of architecture two elements resonate for me: sacred architecture of all faiths and doctrines and the sparseness of Tadao Ando’s designs and how deliberate he was in terms of interaction and creating these very experiential spaces” In addition to Ando, she cites Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid as having influenced her work, as well as the avant-garde artist and pioneer of the Suprematist movement Kazimir Malevich. Indeed her jewellery, often includes geometric shapes and gemstones cut and set in such a way that they are evocative of abstract art. When worn, the pieces create new silhouettes on the wearer’s body, reminiscent of the way a new building transforms both the existing landscape it is situated in and people’s relationship to it. For those seeking pieces with intellectual depth of meaning Eddy’s work is consistent in its messaging and intriguing in equal measure. Not to say this has not gone without resistance or comment: “Why should I have to adapt to  perceptions of blackness?” She rightly asks. It is an important question, inclusion is only one part of the diversity equation, of equal import are expectations and narrow suppositions. Tribal references, bright colours and heavy ornamentation should not become the only aesthetic and design silo for the female jeweller of colour to operate from.

Blue Topaz and Palladium Ring. Image: Courtesy of Melanie Eddy
Blue Topaz and Palladium Ring. Image: Courtesy of Melanie Eddy

Eddy is emphatic in recognising the pioneer women and black jewellers who are important standard bearers and touchstones for herself and future generations: “Top of the list has to be Jacqueline Rabun. I spoke to her for the first time yesterday and I was starstruck and surprised that I was even able to have a proper chat with her as I was grinning so hard.” she says of the African-American designer who in addition to her own private atelier has spearheaded a commercial and creative revival at heritage Danish jewellery house Georg Jensen.  Suzanne Belperron, a designer from back in the day [and] of course Elsa Perretti for Tiffany are also big inspirations.” Of arguably the first great black designer of the contemporary era she notes: “I didn’t know much about Art Smith until much later.” That Smith still remains relatively unknown is something Eddy is seeking to rectify via the lens of education and increased visibility for designers of colour: “It is important for us to come to the fore because it means younger people will feel validated and that the space is for them.” 

 

Jewellery as a Catalyst for Change

It is perhaps in Eddy’s roles in the third sector that has seen her work overtly cross over into the political realm, and curiously take her back to her first discipline of international development: “All of the projects that I have been involved in…have had a collaborative nature to them, a local component and the agency is there from the country side as supposed to a drop-in kind of situation because I feel uncomfortable {with that] and have actually interrogated that process.” Consultancies have taken her extensively across Central and South Asia where she sought means for jewellery makers, miners and artisans to create further value. She expands: “looking at real solutions to income generation in countries ravaged by war, debating the course of sustainable business practices for the creative sector, how we continue to provide opportunities to all spectrums of society to engage in that process for keeping art and design colleges diverse culturally and economically….that is when I see the value of my voice at those tables.” For countries such as Afghanistan with rich mineral deposits but limited capacity building mechanisms and where Eddy worked at Turquoise Mountain’s Institute for Afghan Arts and Architecture, practitioners who were conversant in the political and economic challenges, but committed to creating scenarios that glean the greatest good were a welcome boon, she notes: “Turquoise Mountain was different …they don’t operate that standard model..they wind things up and it becomes run by nationals which is the best way.”

Aquamarine and Gold Ring: Image Courtesy of Melanie Eddy
Aquamarine and Gold Engagement Ring and Wedding Band: Image Courtesy of Melanie Eddy

However, even in these fora, western-centric thinking often proved problematic. “These cultures have a history of excellence and expertise we were just facilitating growth on existing legacies and craftsmanship… [For instance} they have a history of gold craftsmanship in parts of East and West Africa.. In Afghanistan there is a history of gem cutting…what is sometimes frustrating about some of these projects is not acknowledging what is happening in the communities. The [projects] that are done really well acknowledge the history, that it is not about bringing European techniques” She is equally scathing about models that see global marketshare increasing as the only true measure of success: “It is as if the only viable consumer is the international consumer, the western global consumer which is ridiculous. If you look at the demographics in regard to what is happening with the growing middle and higher economic classes  in Africa for instance, the market is there. The market is not abroad. Within 40 or 50 years people will wake up to this reality but right now they are still in a bit of a daze…Any strategy has to be cognisant of fostering a community, fostering growth and fostering engagement with local markets and growing local markets.” Perhaps black jewellery designers be they on the continent or in the diaspora would do well to explore emerging economies and territories rather than fix their gaze firmly on the west? What is most significant is how this body of work clearly illustrates how jewellery, an item deemed as a luxury and to some a frippery can be at the forefront of  enabling economic prosperity, political stability and cultural exchange.

 

Image: Courtesy of Melanie Eddy
Image: Courtesy of Melanie Eddy

Looking to the future of jewellery, particularly via the lens of black jewellery designers, Eddy is optimistic even though creating jewellery collections, campaigning for better terms of engagement within the industry, teaching her students and consulting in the development sector has resulted in fatigue and occasional disillusionment “ it is lonely and it is isolating” she says and it is in instances such as this that old friends such as the writer Afua Hirsch come into play: “she is really super busy but we will still connect and talk occasionally and she has given me the fortitude to stay the course.” Because Eddy’s work goes far beyond herself and personal and professional plaudits. It is about correcting historical injustices where opportunities to participate and recognition of the quality of work produced by black jewellery designers were limited at best and obstructed and ignored at worst. It is about expanding the locus of taste to incorporate aesthetic values from other parts of the world and halt the western gaze that sees difference as intrinsically inferior. It is about those working in the industry, especially in countries with considerable mineral wealth finally seeing equitable working conditions and pay. And finally it is about using her considerable talent as a designer and maker to create pieces that speak to her clients and transform their mood, ensembles and life from the moment they wear them. With her prodigious talent, crystal clear values and  tenacious spirit, the best from her for her collectors, students and the industry is yet to come.