The Magic of Worthless Crap
Belgium is very fortunate to have Grand-Hornu Images. The impact of a new exhibition in Grand-Hornu is heavier than in any other place. The events are followed by a large part of the international press, a book is edited, usually meeting a big success in sales, and many thousands of people get to discover things no-one ever showed before. That’s what happened when we did Label-Design.be, Design in Belgium after 2000 last year, and that’s probably what will happen whit the new exhibition : Les Paruriers de la haute couture.
Jewellery designed for haute-couture brands is a thing of its own. Up to now they were considered absolutely worthless, because they rarely featured any kind of precious stones, and their designers were totally unknown. Both in the sense that they had no reputation, and that they never signed the jewelry. When Roger Scéma designed a piece for Yves Saint Laurent, he wouldn’t be mentioned anywhere. Worse even: the jewellery, not being designed by Yves Saint Laurent himself, would be considered as a marginal accessory of the brand. And would loose any kind of value in a few years time. If you were ever to find a piece of this kind in your dead grandma’s attic, you’d most probably throw it away.
That’s where a handful of collectioneurs come in, Belgians Godelieve and Patrick Sigal, foremost. They started collecting those things 20 years ago. They roamed the world to find any piece they could. It takes a minute of talking to them, to understand just how passionate they are. They could tell you any little detail, of great or small importance, about the jewellers. They literally dedicated their life to it, no matter how worthless those things are considered.
And one has to understand the couple, and the four or five other similar collectioneurs the world has. The jewels are all extremely creative, and distinctive. They’re very colourful, made of all sorts of mad and unexpected materials, and in all sorts of shapes and sizes.
If the wonderfully illustrated book, edited in English, french and dutch by Fonds Mercator gives away all the details one could ever want to know, the exhibition offers the most inspiring experience. Winston Spriet, the scenographer, made a wonderful job of displaying the collection. A very appropriate use of LED lightnings, in a very dark environment, gives the jewellery a well deserved splendour. Each jewelers’ work is shown in its own little round vitrine, half-hidden by a curtain of black cords. Winston explained how his restrained interventions allows both to put the focus on the jewels and not on the scenography, while giving the visitor a very personal, almost intimate, experience.
In a small isolated corner of the exhibition, the workplace of one of the jewellers, Jacques Gautier, was reconstructed by Anne Rochefort, who worked with him during several years. This comes as a cherry on the pie to understand what the work of such haute-couture jewellers was. They had no pre-established rules, or tools, and were driven by a constant need to re-invent their own practice.
The organizers can be proud. Their three years long work will leave a firm trace. A craft that almost totally got forgotten, and tended to be disregarded, now awaits a bright future in museums and private collections. It’s quite likely the sparkle that shows in Godelieve and Patrick Sigal’s eyes will spread to others, as the exhibition is intended to travel around the world. Prices will possibly rise (the couple admits they started this collection because it was very affordable), but that’s a form of insurance for the protection of this craft.
Have your word!
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