Unexpected Pleasures

Ted Noton, Mercedes Benz brooches

Caroline Broadhead, Viel headpiece

gijs bakker, circle within a circle bracelet

On Tuesday night the gallery staff went to the private view of the new Unexpected Pleasures exhibition at the Design Museum, London. Not surprisingly, everyone there was dressed to the nines and adorned in their finest jewels!

The jewellery that people choose to wear communicates a vast variety meaning, among them a sense of self, identity and social belonging. Unexpected Pleasures successfully conveys this idea while also celebrating the skill and talent of the makers.

Curated by jewellery designer and maker Dr. Susan Cohn, Unexpected Pleasures presents over 200 pieces of contemporary jewellery. All of the work challenges the conventional function of jewellery as a symbol of status, sentimentality and taste – forcing the limits of human adornment.

It's a very interesting look at jewellery from both the viewpoint of the maker and the wearer. How a physical object can be forged with meaning and emotion. Can a ring manufactured to mimic a finger blister be considered a thing of beauty? Does the migration of the iPod from the pocket to the lapel cross the role of industrial designer with jeweller? Does plastering gold leaf to the gums mean the beginning of true self-expression and the ‘end of the trend’?

Unexpected Pleasures celebrates jewellery in all its innovative glory and we are delighted to see a show of this scale in London. It seems lately that there has been a surge of interest in the field on contemporary jewellery and we say about time to!