GEMGENÈVE SHOW - FLAIR PROJECT
ORIGINS
One of Ovid’s stories tells the tale of Pygmalion and Galatea. In this tale, art and love play a key role. Pygmalion, a great sculptor, fell madly in love with one of his creations, the statue Galatea, whose features were so graceful that she seemed almost real. He was so infatuated and saddened that he begged Aphrodite (goddess of love) to bring her to life. The latter, touched by the artist’s passion and despair, rewarded his devotion to love and beauty by granting his wish. From an inert but beautiful statue, the wonderful Galatea came to life.
VISION
The jewels are our Galatea. From one or more gems, artists and craftsmen have sculpted jewels with passion and patience. They have nourished them with their inspirations, their visions of the world and their loves. Mounted as ornaments, coming to life with brilliance, they never cease to trigger human desire, affection and ardour. They are the subjects of our emotions and admiration. From stones, jewels have become the beloved of the Pygmalions that we are.
REFLECTION
Metamorphosis is a powerful symbol of transformation, reflecting the confrontation between the psyche and its own development, a radical change of nature. It refers to the emancipation of the soul and to true incarnation.
But metamorphosis requires time and a period of incubation. Like the image of the caterpillar becoming a butterfly, it implies an evolutionary sequence through a progressive unfolding of our structures and potential. We see this process in gems, which take thousands of years to form, and finally pass from stone to jewel, and in humans, through their evolutionary life stages. It “remains the revelation of the fundamental qualities of being and the radical transformations of one’s destiny.” (The Book of Symbols).
COMPOSITION
Pearls and mother-of-pearl, organic beauties idolised as much as gems in the Pantheon of Jewels, are here the link between the inanimate and the living, the mortal and the immortal. They are represented on this collage in necklaces (like the threads of life) and on butterflies (symbols of the soul and of beauty).
Buccellati’s butterfly jewellery refers to the accomplished process of metamorphosis.
This creation reveals Galatea emerging from her chrysalis of stone, or rather gems, as this first skin has been partly covered with Buccellati diamond earrings.
Jewels’ credit : Buccallati