Barcelona, Spain, is one of my favorite places. It has a vibrancy of forms -- architectural, fashion, food, art -- tempered by earthy color palettes, a sense of basics, and a sensible use of local materials.

The jewelry has a timeless, Mediterranean feel, with a strong emphasis on topaz's, brown's, rust's, yellow's, and turquoise's. Much of it is constructed as a mix of crochet stitches and bead strung techniques. There is a peculiar overlapping of string with string and string with bead -- something an American would think was a technical mistake.

There is a great use of Indian glass and Indian waxed cotton, with their slight irregularities and off-tone and lustered colors. The necklace forms either hug the neck, or droop tight, narrow and low. The earrings are long, and many include the crochet stitchery and integrated beads, as well.

In my BARCELONA SENSATIONS COLLECTION, I've incorporated the vernacular of local Barcelona jewelry artists. This includes the brown toned and hued color palette, with accents of turquoise, montana blue, colorado topaz, amethyst-violet -- a "mountain-meets-Mediterranean-and-Sky" palette.

In each piece, I've mixed both bead strung as well as bead woven elements, though not necessarily crochet stitchery. I've tried to capture the "overlapping" tendencies of the stringing materials and the bead work.

I use mostly Czech glass and Austrian crystal, rather than the Indian glass, because these are more durable and have more shape/size/color variations and nuance. But in establishing "patterns" and "forms" in my piece, I try to mimic the irregularities found in the Indian glass.

I also rely on different stringing materials which are more durable and functional, than waxed cotton.

The "jewelry profile" in these pieces is what I like to think of as hugging the neck and body-form, and strongly emphasizing a narrowness, tightness, and elongation. Picture a thin woman in a Picasso painting, with the line of jewelry running along the boundary separating front and side perspectives from head to toe as illustrated by the artist.

Sometimes this jewelry profile is reinforced with an odd placement of simple dangles -- pieces of chain, lengths of waxed cotton, a dangling piece of shell. From the American fashion sensibility, these dangles can be a bit off-putting. Sometimes I use this technique, but often, the dangles seem out of place.

 

 

--- Warren Feld