Desert Chic — Lisa Linhardt of Linhardt Design x Nicholas K Jewelry Collection Seen At The Nicholas K SS17 Show
If you’ve been to enough Nicholas K shows (or looked at show photos and videos online), then you’ve become familiar with the brand’s laid-back, layer-prone, Boho-meets-rocker, urban nomad aesthetic. And, perhaps, you’ve noticed that designing siblings Nicholas and Christopher Kunz routinely seek out mega cool and often under-the-radar brands specializing in jewelry, hats, sunglasses, and so on, in order to accessorize each look that saunters down the runway and give it the desired attitude. At the Nicholas K Spring/Summer 2017 show, then, models strutted down the runway wearing oversized and positively enchanting necklaces, bracelets, rings, and arm pieces in sculptural shapes — a nod to the apparel collection, which was inspired by desert landscapes and Bedouin culture.
All of the pieces seen at the show were the result of a collaboration between Lisa Linhardt of Linhardt Design and Nicholas K, both companies that pride themselves on their eco-friendly practices and philosophies. Fifty-five jewelry pieces were showcased in total, all inspired by the idea of repurposing materials, a notion with which Linhardt herself experimented years ago. At the time, she was purchasing metals from silver scrappers that she could melt down and reinvent as new baubles, when an idea struck her: Since these vintage sugar bowls, water pitchers, and tableware items were already so stunning and had such interesting shapes, couldn’t she work with their forms rather than against them? What if, instead of melting down each piece, she could cut it up strategically and create jewelry that embraced the original item’s contours? It was a genius idea — and one that led to some truly distinctive jewelry pieces.
The Spring 2017 collection showcased at the Nicholas K show embraces these same principles: the idea of hand-smithed sugar bowls and pitchers being shaped into jewelry pieces, all the while maintaining the core elements of their design in their original iterations. For the collection, the repurposed pieces were recreated in hyperbolic forms via a lost-cast waxing process as well as hand-smithing.
Each piece within the Linhardt Design x Nicholas K collection boasts fluid lines and organic shapes that feel perfectly in tune with the notion of a desert landscape, but their exaggerated sizes infuse a cheeky and bold attitude that’s decidedly urban. Take, for instance, the cuff bracelets shown above, in the first two photos, which seem to incorporate the upper sections of silver water pitchers or bell creamers — particularly their spouts — but also incorporate interesting lines along the opposite edges for a more dynamic feel. Rings like the one shown third and fourth above, meanwhile, span the length of all four fingers, undulating shapes creating a sense of kinetic energy. It’s fascinating to imagine what the ring might have been in a previous life: silver spoons or napkin rings perhaps? That’s part of the magic of these pieces: you can almost guess what they once were, just like you might speculate about who or what you were in a previous incarnation (except, in this case, there’s no question that a reincarnation process actually occurred!). But even if you can’t pinpoint the original source of the metals, their original incarnation, the pieces are still superb in their own right, standing out as wearable sculptures.
Other pieces seen in the collection included anklets, hand cuffs (like the one shown last above), asymmetrical collar necklaces, and arm cuffs.
In the desert backdrop of the Nicholas K SS17 show, the Lisa Linhardt of Linhardt Design x Nicholas K jewelry pieces were like a mesmerizing mirage — except they were completely real and, hopefully, will be available for purchase in the near future!
