Nick Von K has been working with jewellery and silver for years now, boasting "Jewellery has been in my blood since the mid 90's". The passion for immaculate pieces of jewellery, superb detail as well as ingenious design are clearly evident within all the collections. There's such a healthy scene of New Zealand brands and silver jewellery, almost makes me wish I made frequent trips across the sea from my native Australia for shopping sprees but fortunately I can save myself a plane ticket with the aid of online stores and shipping worldwide.The 'Figures of Speech' collection features well-known provers immortalised as pieces of jewellery with a dark twist, for example, pictured above is two birds with one stone. Very clever, it would seem that skulls of humans and birds alike cannot be left well enough alone by this New Zealand label.
While I generally do little in the way of changing my earrings frequently, I am delighted with the detail on these little silver bird skulls. While they are dark, gritty and would be enough to make me look like a mighty witch, I know of another brand which are selling mice earrings in silver at less than $50. While the mice aren't as detailed and sculpted as these bird skulls, I only have one set of piercings and wearing an ear cuff of a dragon as well as mice earrings may look nicer than birds skulls larger than a magical dragon.
This grim necklace has been named 'It's raining Cats and Dogs' and features two lovely skull necklaces; a highly detailed brass dog skull and silver cat skull all hang on a 75cm stg silver chain. This is where the proverbs and English sayings come into play when naming their pieces. They're all speckled here and there with so many motifs spanning across the collection from flowers to animals all in the Nick Von K stylised craft which heavily features semi-precious stones and precious metals.
Once again, cat necklaces this time in black obsidian have captured my heart as well as imagination. There's something very Egyptian about the face and body of the cat, the elongated neck and the proud perching pose. The necklace has been named 'Cat's got your Tongue' and is strung on a silver chain of 75cm length. It almost looks like it could be a bottle with the long neck of the cat and the dainty features such as narrow slitted eyes, small nose and mouth as well as perky pointed ears. The black obsidian used for this pieces is absolutely gorgeous with all the smooth lines and the polished chest bouncing light back at the camera. I wish more labels would follow suit and make use of this gorgeous black stone for their pieces but as long as they don't I will become a client of Nick Von K and all the wonderful pieces made of silver and gem stones, sculpted with love and care into animals and skulls. I still have the black panther head mounted on silver as well as the cat sitting in a chair pendant firmly on my mind...
Never before have I seen a ring shaped in the likeness of a chameleon and having stared at the detail on this beast I ask the very important question- why has no one ever been game enough to try it before? While I have no personal attachment to lizards or reptiles, I can appreciate the detail and oxidised effect used to show off both the scales on the chameleon's body and eyes as well as the tree branch used to complete the ring full circle. That row of spines along the back, the globular end at the tongue of the beast as well as the scales in miniature and overall shape of the head of the chameleon are simply breath taking. For my neck cocktail ring I am definitely paying a visit to the Nick Von K online store. Just a little known fact of trivia for everyone- chameleons do not change their colour to blend in with their environment. The quirk is in fact enticed and brought about by temperature and mood.
After successfully finishing my final year of high school, and receiving my Victorian Certificate of Education, I feel I owe part of my success to elephants. For you see, half of my second language oral examination involved discussing conflict between Elephants in Sumatra and groups of farmers, and I did better than I expected but received the letter grade I had been hoping for. So it would be nice to have a little reminder of what made me happy and successful in the year that was, I studied elephants because I'm interested in animals and really want to help them in zoos and in wildlife reserves in the future. The detail of the silver coloured tusk on the black body of the elephant made of black carved horn is a cute touch.
We are human animals on a planet filled with wild life.
We identify with different animals because we recognise something of their spirit within us.
And as we own this spirit we become somehow more ourselves.
Skulls represent the edge of death and the door to the afterlife.
We are reminded of the spirit that has moved on to a place which we can only dream of for now.
And in dreaming we find a world of imagination.
