Made For…You: Claribelle’s Guide to Rolling Your Own Jewellery

MFEO ‘s jewellery range is classically beautiful, it exemplifies the high quality and aesthetic value of repurposed materials in fashion. Our previous post explained the philosophy around Claribelle’s jewellery range, so now we will look at the method.

Claribelle integrates both found objects and paper into her work. For her papel jewellery she uses old magazines and newspapers to create a hard durable material, while retaining and transforming their colourful patterns and shapes.

Although the papel rolling process is simple, each unique piece is carefully designed and crafted down to the very last detail. Here is Claribelle’s step by step guide on creating papel jewelry:

Step 1: Magazine pages are carefully selected, based on color, texture and composition

Step 2: Once the selected pages are removed from their binding, they are measured and cut into 3” strips

Step 3: Each strip is coated with a thin layer of Mod Podge adhesive and hand rolled with a bamboo skewer stick

Step 4: Once each bead is rolled, it is sealed with 3 coats of (eco friendly) poly acrylic spray in a flat finish

Step 5: Beads are left to dry for several hours to allow the poly acrylic to fully bind and seal each bead

If this process seems to arduous and you would rather buy Claribelle’s jewellery visit the MFEO website here.

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Statements of Beauty and Evolution: Jewellery With a Story to Tell

MFEO Braclet Tan imprint – imprint optional and can be customized

LA based furniture design duo Made For Each Other (MFEO) create beautifully crafted furniture, but their repurposed jewellery range is set to become something of a craze.

Claribelle started making her own jewellery despite having no formal training or background in design, she says “making jewellery has always been at the back of my mind since childhood”.

Waterfall necklace

She recalls that she actually acquired her technique for the papel rolling process in middle school, when they were taught to make their own necklaces and bracelets for a school project using old magazine and newspapers.

After moving to LA to work in the social media and marketing industry she regained her interest in jewellery making.

“I finally made the leap several years ago and began taking classes around basic construction techniques so I could make my visions into reality.”

MFEO has a very strong theme of reclaimed objects, salvage and sustainable design, which is shared by Claribelle’s jewellery. Her elegant minimalist designs are made from repurposed materials such as leather cast-offs, old watch gears and upcycled paper beads.

“I have always been inspired by relics and found materials and am especially enthralled by the idea of sustainability and transforming unconventional resources into beautiful and wearable accessories that have a story to tell.”

She emphasizes the importance of jewellery as a form of expression, while acknowledging it’s origins and the materials it encompasses.

“For the wearer, it’s a beautiful piece of armory from which to express themselves, for me its’ making a statement about beauty and evolution.”

The Third Function: Reclaiming the Discarded and the Invisible

Photo by Alan J. Crossley

The LA based multidisciplinary artist, Carolina Fontoura Alzaga (better known as Caro), has created the CONNECT Series of spectacular, cascading, and seemingly traditional chandeliers. These chandeliers however, are not made of glass or crystal but have been carefully crafted using discarded bike parts.

Carolina Fontoura Alzaga Photo by Alan J. Crossley

Caro professes that she became inspired to create the series when she started exploring the “third function” of materials. She describes the lifecycle in three stages of discarded materials being transformed and reclaimed into something new –

1. they serve their original function
2. their original function becomes obsolete and they become ‘trash’
3. they cease to be ‘trash’ as they are transformed into something entirely new

Photo by Caro Fontoura Alzaga

Through this process she seeks to transform objects deemed to be excess waste by “effectively reclaiming the ‘discarded’ and ‘invisible’ to create something far more powerful and commanding.”

Photo by Alan J. Crossley

As a result the “chandelier itself becomes a metaphor of reclaimed power.”

Photo by Alan J. Crossley

The CONNECT Series chandeliers are influenced by both modern and Victorian styles, as well as by bike culture, and a strong belief in the concept of sustainability and environmental preservation.

“The idea for ‘The CONNECT Series’ began from seeing pots and pans hung from a makeshift pot rack made from a bicycle rim. It inspired me to make a mobile made from a bike rim, bike tube, and bike gears. The result was lovely but too simple and it was the semantic mistake of calling it a bike ‘chandelier’ and not a mobile that led me to make a proper chandelier.”

Photo by Alan J. Crossley

Caro has a unique gift for recognising value and functionality in unwanted objects, allowing these to serve a purpose even if it greatly differs from their original use.

“In her art and her life, Caro works to find beauty in the discarded, and challenges the necessity of the new.”

Photo by Caro Fontoura Alzaga

The Vintage Home Show Travels North

The Vintage Home Show is coming to Manchester this weekend. The show will be held at the Victoria Baths on Sunday the 9th of June from 11am – 4pm, and will be showing mid-century furniture, retro lighting, vintage textiles and artwork among many other things. If you can’t make it to Manchester this weekend there will be another Vintage Home Show in London later this year. Here is a short clip about the event to give you a little taster.

New Goodies at Retrouvius

The London based salvage and design company, Retrouvius, have found some beautiful things recently, acquiring a number of great pieces ranging from antique chairs, exotic rugs to a pair of striped barber poles!

ANGLEPOISE SHADE PENDANTS all photos courtesy of Retrouvius

Here are the objects that caught my eye, for more information have a browse through their new stock on their website

KILIM RUG

STRAIGHT BACKED YELLOW CHAIRS

BARBER’S POLE

TURNED TIMBER BOBBIN CHAIR

SHOP MIRROR

ROSEWOOD SIDEBOARD

Thomas Chippendale: Google celebrates furniture

I was surprised to see the Google doodle in the form of furniture today. Google is celebrating Thomas Chippendale and the legacy of his furniture, which rather amazingly is still popular today almost 250 years after his heyday. He published The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker’s Director in 1754 (which is still in print!), a book of his designs. His wide range of elaborate and often exotic designs, fascinated noblemen of his time. Here is a clip from the excellent BBC documentary on this remarkable craftsman and his furniture.

Sleeping in a Sea of Dreams

If only you could drift to sleep to the gentle rocking of the waves, listening to the rhythm of the the ocean while you are sent into a deep slumber. Well you can do just that – almost. This bed is made from an old salvaged boat suspended from the ceiling. It’s almost like a steady hardwood hammock or a huge crib. And it even doubles up as a sofa and a rocking chair. Imagine sleeping in a boat suspended several inches from the ground like a floating cocoon. Sounds like bliss…the only issue is attaching it to the ceiling.

Boat bed/sofa