pearls

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Art Craft Design

New Miniature Anatomical Sculptures and Jewelry Carved From Pearls by Shinji Nakaba

Shinji Nakaba (previously) is a master of carving carefully into miniature objects, creating skulls and other anatomical forms from pearls no larger than the end of a finger tip. Nakaba considers these works “wearable sculptures,” as each pearl takes the form of a ring, necklace, or pin. Although he uses precious metals and stones for his high-end jewelry, he is not against mixing in more common materials. Nakaba has been known to also incorporate aluminum from beer cans and trimmings from plastic bottles.

“I’m dealing with all materials equally no matter how precious they are,” said Nakaba. “I bring out their hidden talents and beauty and they are being re-born as treasure.”

You can see more of his wearable works on his online shop.

Art Craft Design

Miniature Skulls Carved from Pearls Used to Create Anatomical Jewelry

Producing work since 1974, Japanese artist and jeweler Shinji Nakaba infuses all matter of anatomical forms, skulls, and flowers into what he describes as “wearable sculptures.” The pieces come in all shapes and sizes, but his most prolific series involves human and animal skulls carved from oyster pearls and attached to rings, necklaces, and brooches. In addition to selling pieces through his online shop, Nakaba’s work has been shown at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Museum of Arts & Design in New York, as well as several galleries and museums around Japan. You can see more of his jewelry designs and pearl carvings on his website. (via Colossal Submissions)

Art

A Sailing Ship Dripping with Loot Explores the Perceived Status Symbol of Pearls

Ann Carrington‘s piece “Galleons and Feathers” is inspired by Wing Wo Wave City, an industrial estate in Zhuijang Province, China which manufactures a massive amount of pearl adornment. The piece is formed in the shape of a 3-mast shop, floating over an opulent sea of brooches, earrings, necklaces and tiaras. The work both contains, and is inspired by, these glistening round objects, and Carrington explains on her website that they highlight “the discrepancy between their perceived status of being timeless status symbols of refined taste and wealth (with exotic overtones) and the often very unromantic reality.”

Carrington studied at Bournville College of Art, Birmingham and The Royal College of Art where she graduated in 1987. Carrington was invited by the United Nations in 2010 to produce artwork that raised awareness of current issues, her first work for them presented at the UN Human Trafficking conference in December 2010. She will have a solo show at The Royal College of Art in October 2016. (via Supersonic and Lustik)