Created by Sofia Vamiali.
From the designer’s jewellery collection created on the occasion of the Benaki Museum’s anniversary exhibition 1821 Before and After.
The "Love and Liberty" collection (extract from Lord Byron’s poem “Love and Death”) has as a starting point the use of the chain, a very popular element in the Greek jewellery of the 19th century, which at the same time as a handmade mesh is a characteristic idiom of my work. For this collection, I was inspired by the details of the men's ornamental costumes, the vests and their buttons, the way they the idiosyncratic pieces of traditional men's clothing are combined, folded, wrapped and tied around the body as well as the folds they create. The chain has a dual symbolic character, it represents a bond but also a freedom, which here is attributed to a flexibility and a liquidity of movement. Also a starting and reference point are the style and form with which the painters have rendered and depicted the flags and banners in the revolution’s paintings, with their special movement and grace. Individual small painted motifs that we find on tiles, designs and documents of the time enrich the necklaces of the collection and become central themes in the brooches.
Bronze and handmade stone painted with enamel
