Yunus and Eliza jewellery – “sculpture to be worn”

I have a confession: I am a total magpie when it comes to jewellery. I love old vintage costume jewellery the best, pieces that can add drama or interest to an outfit. One brand currently taking a wonderfully theatrical approach to jewellery design is Yunus and Eliza.

Artist Yunus Ascott and sculptor Eliza Higginbottom founded their brand in 2009. According to their website, they create “sculpture to be worn”; that says it all really, their pieces are small, exquisite artworks, dark avant-garde sculptures with a distinctly gothic edge. There is something enticingly decadent about their work; their latest collection, Rebel Empire, features positively imperial motifs of majestic, winged creatures and Corinthian columns mixed with edgy leather cuffs, giving the collection a wholly British air of both nostalgia and rebellion.

Generally speaking, I’m not really into gothic grandeur and old-fashioned extravagance but Yunus and Eliza’s designs manage to not only capture a sense of opulence befitting fine jewellery but also to update this aesthetic, rendering the pieces extremely desirable. The duo reference motifs and images from a variety of sources and deconstruct them in a, dare I say it, post-modern manner. This serves to enhance the gothic nature of the pieces – for example, their Goddess Rings take a classical image of a face and reduce it to a basic T-shape, instantly making it both more sinister and enchanting.

In conclusion, I would say that Yunus and Eliza are the jewellery equivalent of Illamasqua, in that they draw on history and imagination to create pieces that are dark yet desirable, that possess a gothic grandeur but are surprisingly modern.

 Simply put, if I had enough money to spend on fine jewellery Yunus and Eliza would be my first stop.

Check out the rest of the collection here.

Hannah Balsdon