What should one expect of a jewelry designer with architecture, environmental and theatre studies?
I came upon the work of Irina Kalintzaki in the beginning of 2011, little before her exhibition in Chili Art Gallery, Athens.
On the occassion of the two Christmas art bazaars she participates in this December, I wanted to share with you the creations and talent of a completely unconventional jewelry designer.
Irina’s critical look on today’s values was obvious in her summer 2011 collection, under the title “Luxury? Oh! Let them eat cake…” The designer keeps her distance from the established values of wealth and luxury to which she reacts with a subtle irony.
“Man started to wear jewelry before he wore anything else. Jewelry soon became a symbol of wealth, power, social status and luxury. In order to avoid associating luxury to today’s “nouveau riche” version, I choose my themes from the past”, says Irina.
“Baroque or Victorian patterns, forms and boudoir esthetics, Marie-Antoinette, Louis and other friends, are mixed into my own version of luxury; even though I kept these primary ideas of the images, I used worthless materials like paper, wood or fabric. In a childish theatricality, these materials connote timeless luxury”
My favourite piece of the collection; a necklace that plays with Marie-Antoinette’s famous phrase “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche” (“Let them eat cake”)
Paper transformed into delicate lace…
…and wood transformed into diamonds.
“My jewelry – installations are a comment to today’s reality of over-consumerism and social accession through material wealth”
As about Irina’s current collection? I’ll only give you a clue. You may discover the rest of it in Chili Art Gallery from today until the 15th January 2012 or in Eleni Marneri Galerie, starting next Sunday 11th December until the 10th January 2012.
Chili Art Gallery, Demophontos 13-15, Thisseion
Eleni Marneri Galerie, Lebessi 5-7, Acropolis
ATHENS
