False fruit collection, 2022

A woman with long brown hair, wearing a white outfit that resembles crumpled paper, is holding a small blue flower and a white paper butterfly, standing against a plain light background.

A young woman with long hair, wearing rings, poses with her eyes closed with many rings in a black and white photograph.

A close-up of two hands wearing silver rings, one hand holding the other, with plain background.

The False fruit collection comprises of 3 rings in open edition (Dog+Man, Rider and Blueprint), 1 open edition pendant, a brass flower for knitwear in open edition and 4 one-of-a-kind brass patinated sculptural flowers.

The False fruit series has taken inspiration from the use of composition in early renaissance Sienese paintings, the writing of Octavia Butler and all things surreal.

The Sienese paintings that I have been interested in theatrically depict stories from Christ’s life. I am less interested in the religious elements and more in how the compositions are structured and their theatrical and sometimes cartoony feel. The pink-ish building that span most of the paintings of that period look like flimsy paper cut outs. Their nature is reminiscent of theatre flats with scenes of people that play out in front of them. I love Duccio’s Maestà altarpiece painting and his use of panels to describe stories as well as Martini’s illustration of 2 moments in time within the same composition in his paintings ‘Child falling from a balcony’ and ‘Child attacked by a wolf’(1324). The drawings and shapes in the False fruit series are inspired by these paintings.

I was reading Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower while I was creating this series and while it wasn’t my original intention to include it as a reference, I felt there were underlying parallels between her catastrophic Earthseed world and our present day and decided to paraphrase her on the back of the Jotter pendant as a nod to it(I hope things never get that bad!!). The use of imprinted sycamore leaves and sculpted flowers felt like it bridged these two points of research.

I absolutely loved working on this shoot with Brian and Vida playing with similar references.

This collection is available via my shop.

Photography: Brian Rankin

Model: Vida Adamczewski and Carlos

Direction: Willa Hilditch

Close-up black and white photo of a young man with long hair, a beard, and a mustache resting his face on his hand, wearing a large ring with a sycamore leaf shaped design.

Woman in a skirt and sweater holding oversized white fork and spoon cutouts against a plain background.

A woman with red hair in a ponytail secured with a white scrunchie, wearing a dark blue knit sweater with brass flower hair clips. The woman’s face is turned away from the camera, and a shadow of a hand is cast on the wall behind her.

A woman with long hair wearing multiple rings on her hands, leaning on a white surface, with her face partially visible and her arm resting on a white object.

Close-up of a person's hand with a ring resting on their back near a mole.

A person with hair tied back, wearing layered sweater, standing barefoot against a plain background. They have their head turned away, with their left hand extended downward, and their face not visible.

Woman with medium-length blonde hair with her head turned sideways, looking at the camera. She has several rings on her fingers, resting her hands on cut-out shapes of white paper. The background consists of white paper with checkered pencil drawing.

A woman stands inside a paper cut out arch, with her arms raised above her head and touching it The photo is in black and white.

A black-and-white photo of a woman holding a large ribbon and rings in each hand, with a serious expression and looking to the side.