Precious
Precious, the inaugural, month-long exhibit, will commence in June 2011 and display 10 exploded art works by Bouke de Vries. He has created these sculptures from reclaimed broken ceramics. Arriving on the aspects of nature and spirituality which inform the pieces and, adorning them with butterfly and dragonfly pendants, garnets, pearls as well as drusy stone, proved an organic, free-form process for Bouke and Annoushka. "There was no brief,” concedes Annoushka. “As we started to work together, I discovered there were a lot of elements present in Annoushka’s work that are also present in mine, such as butterfly and dragonfly motifs - so it was a good fit,” adds Bouke.
However, the aim of Precious is to “display jewellery in a totally different way and remove it from its traditional milieu - from the glass case in the boutique and then, from the glass case into somebody’s jewellery box,” explains Annoushka. “I’ve always felt that it is such a shame that jewellery is put away into a cupboard and then comes out on special occasions, when, actually, because of the detail, the thought and the time that it takes to make a piece of jewellery, it should be displayed and seen, yet - not just as a static, decorative accessory - but as art.”
Annoushka discovered Bouke’s work with the help of Samir Ceric and Zoe Knight. This husband-and-wife team are founders of Debut Contemporary. A ‘business academy for the art world,’ Debut Contemporary develops the careers of up and coming painters, photographers, sculptors, video, performance and alternative artists. “It was a natural partnership,” reflects Annoushka of working with Ceric and Knight, whose early careers were guided by John Ayton, her husband, as part of Walpole Brands of Tomorrow. Ayton, director of Walpole, formed Brands of Tomorrow to mentor the British luxury sector’s best emerging talent. Debut Contemporary also places art work in off-site locations and so Annoushka’s Cadogan Gardens flagship was the natural space for the three 2011 shows. “It is beautifully designed and has the scale for displaying art,” explains Ceric. “It has that gallery feel that not all shops actually do.” Reflects Annoushka: “I always knew that I wanted to use the boutique as a gallery space and designed it to display the work of artists.”
In May 2010, Annoushka launched her first artistic collaboration - Manuela. This art jewellery collection was jointly conceived by Annoushka and the sculptor Manuela Zervudachi. The limited edition 18 carat gold and diamond micro pavé jewels are based the organic forms of Manuela’s sculpture and were exhibited alongside the artist’s maquettes and sketches at Annoushka’s flagship.
And so Art At Annoushka fuels the creative spirit of collaboration which has defined Annoushka's sought-after fine jewellery brand since its launch in July 2009. It will also further the aim of Annoushka to add a sense of self- expression to the world of fine jewellery. A limited edition, numbered, jewel will be created by Annoushka and her 2011 artistic collaborators to commemorate the two exhibitions. An 18 carat rose gold ‘Apple Core’ amulet, embellished with cognac and brown diamonds is the piece Annoushka and Bouke De Vries have jointly conceived for Precious.
