Accessorize with Ammo
April 29, 2009 by Joseph Ungoco
Filed under M. Accessories, W. Accessories
Miansai and Botticelli’s Niece offer different takes on using ammunition in jewelry design. One uses ammo for inspiration; the other repurposes actual ammo components into freeform organic jewelry elements. You decide which ones better suit your taste.
At a recent market appointment for Miansai, my fellow editors and I were simply obsessed with the new brand’s Fall 09 collection. While the vast array of pendants, necklaces, bracelets, cuffs, and rings was impressive, one very simple item stood out – a single silver bullet on a leather lace that can be worn as a necklace or a bracelet. The bullets are available in silver, gold tipped, and gold versions, in both .22 and .38 caliber sizes. While the all silver bullet on a brown lace is the perfect accessory for a jeans-and-a-T kind of guy, the gold tipped version on a black lace has a dressier feel to it. Any YSL or Dior Homme wearing Fashionista would love the edge it adds to a well tailored outfit. Either version will work with your D Squared outdoorsman look this fall.
Jewelry designer, Michael Andrew Saiger, developed a firsthand appreciation for WWII relics and memorabilia as a young child surrounded by his mother’s collection of antique auction finds. AS an adult, the now 23 year old native New Yorker has fused his worldly style with his affinity for past treasures, creating a high-end jewelry collection driven by war and military influences, Miansai. Saiger reinvents and masters the use of vintage relics that he himself sources and intricate handcrafted pieces, harmoniously mixing modernity with history.
The Miansai philosophy is the more worn, the better. “Every piece has its own rich history,” says Michael. “All my designs, especially the more controversial ones, are meant to get people talking. It’s almost like the pieces themselves have a secret or a story to tell. Keeping that in mind, I try to find each relic in its natural habitat. That way it maintains a raw integrity, a quality I hold high when I create my designs.”
For a completely different take on ammo as an accessory, look to Ellen Miller, the creative mind behind Botticelli’s Niece. In general, Miller’s designs are very crude, raw and spiritual in nature, which embodies her design philosophy of combining fine materials to form a pure balance of style and beauty without pretension. The name embodies the feel of the jewelry, combining natural elements into what she describes as a, “rebirth in artistry.”
Botticelli’s Niece is well known for using only raw materials such gold, silver, leather to create an organic quality. Inspired by everyday life and the haphazard style of objects, Ellen draws insight from her travels and studio for her designs. Her authentic jewelry combines fine materials to provoke a feeling of the unexpected. She intends for her pieces to produce feelings of assurance within each woman as they become a part of our everyday world.
What’s the tie in to ammo, you ask? The above pictured pieces feature her signature Bullet Flakes and Petals which are made from recycled brass bullet casings that Miller collects from her local gun ranges. She then hand hammers them into free-form shapes and laces them onto suede thongs that can be wrapped around the neck or wrist. You then wear them in your own inimitable way and are armed and ready for fashion battle.
JOSEPH UNGOCO
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