October 27, 2022 |
Precious metals and spontaneous assemblies make up the new Repossi/Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation jewellery collection. Titled, Act II (following last year’s inaugural link-up), it’s inspired by Mapplethorpe’s renowned photographic works, drawings, collages, and three-dimensional projects, as well as his necklaces. Mapplethorpe would make jewellery from “bits of nothing” (as he liked to call them) – shells, pearls, crab claws, nails, dice, engine parts, etc – which he assembled between 1965 and 1968 in New York. His works featuring gay and queer men redefined photography too, providing the framework for a sexual revolution and proving that homoeroticism can make great art. Preserving the peripheral style, authenticity and aesthetic characteristic of Mapplethorpe’s work whilst imbuing a high level of detail and technical complexity, this divine tribute collection isn’t a want, it’s a need.
The Repossi/Robert Mapplethorpe Act II collection was imagined initially with 40 divisive references amassed from the extensive research of hundreds of indiscriminate objects. These were then divided into two to allow the collection to live longer. The result: the appraised Act I range, and now a striking 11-piece collection with six central design themes: Dagger, Black x Cross, Bullseye, Relic, Chain and Americana Eagle. “The collection incorporates all the themes you can find in Mapplethorpe’s later work,” explains creative director and designer Gaia Repossi. “Love (sex symbols, sadomasochist symbols, hearts), spirtualism (religion, death, the devil, chicken feet, crosses, monkeys, rabbit paws), Americana (hardware, nails, keys, cows and cowboys objects, Native American jewellery, flags), and pre-punk-tribal (bones, skulls, inuit objects, Native American objects, feathers).” The Repossi touch comes through by the way of a high jewellery reinterpretation, which is foundational for the Parisian atelier, with all luxe creations hand-made, shaped, assembled, set and polished in Paris or Italy. For one thing, the eagle motif is transformed from an exact replica of the U.S. national bird, reproduced using the lost wax technique, with its arrows and olive branch – found on the seal of the President of the United States, on one-dollar coins or on U.S. stamps – into a diamond number highlighted by white gold. Then there’s the Crab Claw pendant, which is exquisitely carved in 18 carat white gold from a real crab claw. The cross, which evokes Mapplethorpe’s biblical references, featured gold threads which knot the cross and black ruthenium which elicits echoes of the underground BDSM culture very present in his work.
The story goes that Repossi first learned of Mapplethorpe and his habit of making rather eclectic jewellery after she purchased a photograph of his that depicted a palm tree ten years ago – it still hangs in her studio. It was titled “Puerto Rico, 1981,” and she discovered it at a small show curated by Sofia Coppola which took place at the Thaddaeus Ropac Gallery in Paris. “I always looked at Mapplethorpe’s photography for its elegance and sharp perfectionism, hiding strikingly modern messages that are almost controversial,” Repossi says, adding, “He has a way of making a statement by the tone of the voice his work carried, his point of view at times very loud, almost screaming it.”
Before she began conceptualising Act II, Repossi had the unique opportunity to dig through Mapplethorpe’s entire archive of jewellery and materials at the Getty Research Institute over the course of five days. This is where she learned of Mapplethorpe’s signatures, and composed over 200 pages of analysis. Her background in archaeological and anthropological studies lent a hand to her interpretation of the objects themes too. “It was like entering his world,” she says. “We were among the very few researchers touching objects and were therefore loud, touching metallic objects making noise with paper having to open envelopes, drawers of his legendary fisherman’s box among the very quiet researchers turning pages of ancient books and documents or historical drawings.” Repossi was inspired especially by the “lateral symmetry” of Mapplethorpe’s work: the accumulation and balance of volumes, as well as the play of contrasts. In the Relic Claw necklace, this is manifested. “It breaks the symmetry and it’s a signature of his that I love,” she explains. “He did it brilliantly with a perfect sense of volume and proportions along with the pearls and the crab claw hanging on the side.”
Repossi conveys that Mapplethorpe’s infatuation with the research of objects stemmed from his relationship with Patti Smith. Together, they collected hundreds of objects which he would play around with, transforming assortments of them into miscellaneous adornments. From buttons, small animal skulls, feathers, claws, ready-made elements and hardware, glass hearts and whatever else he could get his hands on his wearables came to life. “He was drawn to realistic objects and figurative elements, which I translated into tribute pieces rendering them as similar as I could using more refined materials and adding my own touch – such as the signature stacking and bandeaux rings,” Repossi says. “This was the way to welcome his designs into my own oeuvre, respecting to me what would have been his desires entering the world of fine jewellery.”
She was also driven by the tension discernible in Mapplethrope’s images, and the “contrasts found between masculinity and femininity where both express a very virile strength and a powerful elegance, but in a modern way where sexuality or gender are treated as a subject – just like a flower is normalised into refined statuesque figures.” She imparts, “Not only did he normalise what were shaking topics at the time, but he also defined and found beauty in these topics objectifying them and putting them all on the same level.”
If you’re a fan of the must-have adornments on offer, then you’ll be delighted to hear that Repossi/Robert Mapplethorpe isn’t coming to an end anytime soon. Rather, on a biannual basis, stores will receive new editions of Repossi/Robert Mapplethorpe designs, in an endeavour they’re calling Limited Editions, wherein each drop navigates a brand new theme. Of course, Repossi also has high hopes regarding the potential of having the collection appointed a permanent stock in Repossi’s stores. “I would love for the rings and other pieces that I wear everyday, like the Relic Claw necklace, to be available upon order like a couture object,” she says. “I find it the future of luxury – having few sizes available or upon order.” The Act II collection could very well be the future of luxury too; its innovative opulence incarnate and feels entirely timeless.
Photography courtesy of ©Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Licensed by Artestar, New York. Shop the collection online and at the Repossi pop up shop, Selfridges Wonder Room, 400 Oxford Street London W1A 1AB.
