Irene Neuwirth Jewellery

Once I get started there's no stopping me- I'm still addicted to looking online at Barneys New York for gorgeous antique jewellery pieces and I was enthralled when I clapped eyes on the amethyst necklace listed below as well as this large boulder opal necklace strung on a rose gold chain. I have a small love affair with rose gold- it has to have just the right coppery tone about it and tasteful as well. In my last few months before all the panic of shopping for Christmas hit I had my eye on some really gorgeous opal necklaces that had a great variation of colour and this large rectangular piece of opal is a thousand times better in terms of quality and clarity.

The antique jewellery I've been chasing up within the last few hours such a timeless and classic appeal in it's design- I'm most impressed with the generous proportions of the stones and gems compared to the great numbers of small and tiny gems you see incorporated into modern jewellery. My mother's favourite description of this is that "you're being robbed blind and paying for stones the size of boogers." As you can probably tell, I've inherited every bit of my mother's way with words and class.

Irene Neuwirth
Mint Chrysoprase & Diamond Necklace
$18,880.00
I've never heard of the chrysoprase stone, it has a jade like quality but seems sort of creamier and smoother, thought that may just be the professional lights as well as the polished finish of the stone. I don't normally wear a lot of green and not in gem stones either but who in their right mind would turn down the opportunity to wear a necklace that retails for almost twenty thousand dollars? Not me, certainly not me. I love the contrast between the two shades of green as well as the gold chain but I'm not used to seeing as many claw sets holding the gems. I never have been much of a fan of claw sets unless it was used as an intrinsic part of the jewellery design but if an antique piece has survive however many years and not lost a gem yet then it must be sturdy and fine craftsmanship that put this piece together.

The most appealing cut of a gemstone to me will always be emerald cut- seeing this necklace is like a match made in heaven combining my favourite metal colour in the perfect tone (rose gold) with my favourite colour and in an exquisite cut. I know the perfect dress to wear with it from T.R. Ensemble in lilac with a bustier dress and gather at the waist letting the skirt pleat out. It seems ironic to wear a dress that costs a few hundred dollars with a necklace that costs some thousands of dollars but a necklace can be a nice addition to make yourself look expensive. It's a pity I have money for neither piece but with anyone luck no one else will come along and snatch them from under my nose if I ever save enough money to afford them.

Olivia Collings Antique Jewelry

I'm in way over my head when it comes to looking at all the gorgeous jewellery I can't afford, I thought it was bad enough when I was lusting over a kimono that cost some hundred dollars but the jewellery from Olivia Collings Antique Jewellery I found online at Barneys New York costs thousands of dollars for diamond earrings in tarnished metals but the craftsmanship is superb. I don't know a lot about diamonds or about the quality of metals but I do know what i like in terms of design and I adore this romantic looking and antique jewellery. It looks like something from a celebrity off a red carpet event and while I normally don't lust over jewellery of this style I can't resist it.

I only ever admire such jewellery in secret because my mother usually offers me the realistic explanation that I have no where to wear such jewellery and it would be a waste of time really but I can't help but wonder what it would be like if I had money to splash around or if I won the lottery and could buy whatever my heart desired. Sadly I know the value of a dollar and that hard work and patience is a virtue, there is no short cut to success etc.

It was this romantic looking ring that first allured me into exploring the website, and I was delighted to learn of its origins through someone's blogspot or personal website. I've been casually looking at a few cameo necklaces and rings but nothing like this- I love the painterly quality about the ring as well as what looks like a rose gold base. It's a crystal portrait ring from 1790 and an 18K gold band. I don't think I want a boring gold wedding ring, I want this from the love of my life and would be happy with a gorgeous pair of diamond earrings too.

I've always wanted to have a ring of my birthstone, being born in September I have sapphire but the pink stones you see above are topaz and not my beloved sapphire. That won't stop me from wanting it though, certainly I will be stopped by a lack of funds and not being able to afford a three thousand dollar ring. I'm beginning to see the difference between modern jewellery available in stores and antiques; there's more size and sparkle behind the stones and I do like that.

Nick Von K: Beautiful Alchemy

This is the final collection to write about from the New Zealand jewellery label Nick Von K and features more gorgeous bone motifs as well as pounamu sculpted pieces of jewellery. There's a distinctly international flavour to the pieces; Mexican style scrolling across skulls and snake heads as well as a babushka doll! The unifying motif is the bones, bullet shells and skulls reminding us of our imminent deaths. It's not all doom and gloom though, this lovely bone cuff isn't as morose as it could be with the ends softened and not looking as touch and angular. There's a lot of weight and thickness about this bangle- I bet it could happily survive many knocks when going about doing ordinary day-to-day tasks. At $480 NZ, I will have to wait till I find some more shifts and work for myself.

The added chains to either side of the horns on these cow skulls give added security and stability to the design. While there would be some empty spaces to allow for the eye sockets would spare your poor ear lobes some weight but by adding the simple chains, you can have dangling cow skulls without them hanging askew. While having cow skulls involved in jewellery design is rare in itself, I do admire the thought taken into designing something as small as these earrings. What will they think of next?




This is the piece that really captured my imagination from this collection of Nick Von K, Inside your babushka comes a little carved pounamu babushka inside, but be warned as only the sterling silver outer casing can be worn as a pendant and its precious contents may be safer left at home on your bedside table before you go. What strikes me as odd is the Russian style wooden doll adapted with Mexican style scrolling and fitted out with a skull for a face. I can't really say I'm surprised though, having poured my eyes over every piece currently available online at the Nick Von K store the use of oxidation to blacken the body as well as the skull face and scrolling lines is polished silver are typical to this New Zealand jeweller. It was the first piece in this collection, Beautiful Alchemy, that grabbed me but I'm not sure I admire the detail on the pounamu babushka inside the photograph above looks a little lopsided to me. Also, after having written about the Garden of Eden collection I have a small fetish at the moment for snakes and reptilian.

This Mexican style snake head has a little more favour with me at the moment I'm not sure what it is definitively but ever since examining the small carved snake head necklace in turquoise I think the way Nick Von K carves the scales as well as the all important stylising of the eye is what really grabs me. It's 3.5cm in length and hangs on a 75cm long silver chain and is a typical medium/ large sized piece from the Kiwi brand. The lighting and scrolling effect almost makes the silver have a look that is similar to rose gold but make no mistake of the materials used, this is definitely silver and features a Mexican style snake head. The thing I like most about their snake heads is the fact that the look almost classy and are unique, different from anything I've seen from other brands. Hearts and bows can be done to death but it's the ground-breaking new styles and design pieces made of high quality precious metals that will win in the hearts of the young and tragically hip.

Hand carved pounamu bullet tip on genuine .308 antique plated shell casing on a 75cm stg silver chain.

Available in onyx and greenstone. (7.5cm)

Nick Von K have a habit of surprising me with the materials they use, the most shocking was a necklace carved using mammoth tusk but to use an actual antique bullet shell as a part of their pendant designs is also new to me. I have already claimed that Unearthen's range of bullet shell's stuffed with chunks of raw crystal quartz was my cup of tea but I can't resist the length of this pieces as well as the neat little nub of pounamu stone shown above. I'm also a little keen to get my hands on one of these pieces for the great little tag on each clasp which features 'Nick Von K' on one side and a crown on the other, as well as the rectangular shape of each link.

A snake shown eating its own tail has been used in mythology for centuries to represent the cycle of life and there are legends of a large snake living below the surface of the Earth having eaten its own tail in all the colours of the rainbow. While this little fella is not nearly as colourful as his legendary counter part, once again, Nick Von K has managed to woe me with fantastic and enticing detail of scales on their reptile pieces. Another ring which would make a magnificent cocktail ring, the beady eyes as well as lack of fangs of the snake prevent it from reaching it's peak intimidating and scary nature.

Nick Von K: Figures of Speech

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.

From the Nick Von K website it is said that the designs and jewellery are inspired by the following:

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.

Nick Von K: See you There

Although all the Nick Von K collections features skulls, the traditional motif for death and mortality, 'See you There' exckusively features skulls as well as other designs which evoke the tone and mood of the passing from this life to the next. Could 'See you There' be a phrase spoken between two fond friends on there death beds and refer to the next life after this one? Possible, this little theory of mine is nothing bu speculation and hearsay. While there is no confirmation of this, it's the best I can do really in light of the little information offered regarding eaach collection but while I am trying to cover as much information as possible about collection and designer, I will include this extract of biography information about how Nick Von K's jewellery came about and evolved to what it is:

I've been after a cow skull necklace for the last few weeks and I have to say, the hairline cracks which represent temporarl lines and separate one lobe from another. The carving of the nasal cavity and the combination of a brass skull with silver horns and thick, partially oxidised chain is a dream to me.

History

Jewellery has been in my blood since the mid 90's.

My break came when I started working on seasonal ranges for Ricochet in 98. I produced a costume accessory range of 20-30 pieces every 6 months.

In this work, I developed creative design processes that led to the current debut of the Nick Von K range.

I continue to design for Ricochet and the ‘Nick Von K for Ricochet’ range is now available at Ricochet stores throughout New Zealand.

Life, death, and imagination infuse the Nick Von K range. Detailed, hand-carved semi-precious stones, deer antler, and mammoth tusk are mounted on precious metal necklaces, bracelets and rings.

Nick Von K was launched at Shed 9 in Auckland on 16th September 2010.

The carved detail on this small, pounamu skull which has a smaller length of 1.5cm, (mainy of the other designs come at 3cm length, twice the size of this pint-sized beauty) on a 45cm stg silver chain. It's just the right size and has a cute little carved and polished look to it, the detail on the eye sockets, gnarled teeth and nose aren't threatening at all, I quite look the endearing look.

The neat and sharp looking elongated beak of this carved birds skull in obsidian looks rather life like inckuding some of the smallest details in the beak and eye sockets- but I don't find it threatening at all, as long as there aren't small children in the area. Last night I saw a fantastic collared shirt dress in a maxi length that's floaty, light and breezy. It reminds me a little of Scrooge from A Christmas Carol and combining that dress with the necklaces from Nick Von K's range would be a staple outfit for the university bound in the coming year.

Hand carved crystal skull on 75cm stg silver chain.
Available in assorted stones (rose quartz pictured) and sizes :
(small - $265)
(medium - $275)
(large - $325)
This larger skull has a translucent effect, I think the rose quartz has been lighted using harsh studio lights anad effected the colour as wll as the opaque nature of the stone. I was tempted to buy one of these larger Nick Von K skull necklaces but the price range isn't exactly easy-going and I need to sparingly share around my earnings from my Summer casual job.

For an extra thirty dollars NZ, you can add a beautifully crafted galleon to your small pounamu skull measuring 1.5cm and on the same 45cm Sterling silver chain. Though I am wary of the two pieces scratching together, you could easily remove the galleon from this necklace and separate the two charms for a layered effect. I love the old architectural peices add to the necklaces and skulls to individualise their looks, for example the skull with a monocle is named 'The Archaelogist" and other looks given to the gory skulls includes a turban made of a snake and a swish top hat.

Hand carved deer antler skull with coiled snake on 75cm stg silver chain.

As well as using semi-precious stones as well as silver as part of their design, Nick Von K also dabbles in using animal materials such as deer antler and even mammoth tusk. I'm reassured by the fact that deer naturally drop their antlers every season and they can be harvested without harming the animals. The scale details alongside the coiled body of the snake sitting atop the skull once again rekindles me love affair with snakes. Their scaly designs used in this brand makes me feel an odd fondness for the reptilian beasts.