Skeleton of Habit

Historically, bone is one of the first widely used materials in jewellery making with the original purposes being adornment, a signifier of social rank, currency and protection. Bone, along with teeth, sinew and skin, is mostly associated with tribal or shamanic origins and as cultures throughout the world today still utilise bone in these ways, modern jewellery designers and artists have not overlooked it as a possible material for their work.

Firstly, there are countless real bone necklaces, bracelets and rings out there but I find those created by Zoe Mou particularly interesting. In a collection named 'Deadly Creatures', there are eight different animal skulls carved out in total  that are designed to 'showcase the beautiful creatures and serve as an educational experience, with hopes of a greater appreciation of the natural world.' The use of gold and silver is intended to enforce the qualities possessed by the animals. Such as, enhancing the humour of the duck bill or highlighting the majesty of the wild boars tusks.

The ideology behind Andrew Ross and his use of cow bone was to reduce waste by recycling what would otherwise be discarded, however that would still be better than ground up and fed back to the living animals, as was the case not so long ago. For this idea he won the 'New Designers Swarovski Crystal Palace Award' for innovative product design. It is all very natural in shape as Ross wanted to retain the bones original form and just apply it to another use, this being on the outside of a living being as opposed to inside it.

Although bone is inspirational as a material, it has also triggered many designers to create metallic replicas. Reid Peppard, who I should have mentioned in the post about taxidermy as her work is very similar to that of Julia deVille, has created a collection of jewellery that features gold and silver lower mandibles as neck ware. I find the work of Peppard equally as intriguing as other taxidermy artists and other examples of her work include a hamster hairband and a purse made out of a hollow rat. Much like her contemporaries, Peppard strides to evoke strong feelings in viewers and it doesn't matter if they are positive or negative. In an interview with the artist on Vize magazine's website, Peppard comments on those that provide the most negative comments on her work, in that they 'wear leather without thinking, will eat meat, drive cars that pollute the atmosphere, then turn around and say my taking waste and preserving it is somehow wrong'.

Metal is not the only applicable substitute, as Molly Epstein knows well. The glass-filled nylon necklace was created in 2002. It is strikingly modern in appearance, due to the materials used, yet timeless as is the human anatomy that it is based on. The same can be said about the pair of shoes designed by Naim Josefi and Souzan Youssouf. They are one of the first wearable pairs of shoes that have been created by a 3D printer and in my opinion, oozes with a strong web-like elegance.