Variation around DJULA icons (sun, snake, fairytale and eye), the new jewelry collection relishes in playing with settings and ornamental stones. Spotlight on these audacious encounters decrypted for us by Alexandre Corrot, DJULA’s Artistic Director.
The Eye of Jewelry: The collection whisks us off to a really 60s atmosphere, with hippy-chic touches, and somewhat conjures up the famous series of photos of Talitha Getty shot by Patrick Lichfield in Marrakesh. What are your feelings about this period?
Alexandre Corrot: It was a really intellectually rich and liberated decade. A period of renewal which represented a real generational breakaway from the previous decade of the highly-straitjacketed fifties. Traditional values exploded, individualities stood out. Moreover, there was a need for peace, Eden, inner journeys and spirituality. The body was liberated, in particular the feminine body. It was a decade which went hand-in-hand with an incredible frenzy, artistic experimentation in every field, from fashion with Henry Clarke, photography with Richard Avedon and the musical scene with Pink Floyd. We experimented and discovered ‘the other side’, and like all really liberated periods, some paid the price. This collection is also a tribute to the lost beauty of Talitha Getty.
Theiofj: Although the trend is still one of accumulating, jewelry is tamed, taking on the role of precious talismans, harmonizing ornamental stones and sparkling diamonds. Is the DJULA woman revealing herself in a more bohemian light?
AC: It’s a new stance which DJULA has been taking since the last Baselworld. The Summer of Color collection was already a primer for this more bohemian wearing spirit, with piecesre-imagined around our icons, like the Soleil collection, crafted in turquoise and coral. With this new line, I’m still playing on accumulation, but this time round by exalting the decorative, even mystical aspect of the jewelry. Unique is a collection that’s raw and bohemian yet also extremely sophisticated. The pieces become precious amulets and talismans for women magicians with solar auras.
Theiofj: Stones take centerstage and are proposed in a myriad of cuts from cabochon to geode. How did you embrace these cuts in the collection?
AC: I’ve always adored extremes and this taste is illustrated once again in this collection. I marry stones like beetle-hued labradorite, magnificently-veined Arizona turquoise, as well as coral and fossil wood, which I’ve introduced for the first time into my collections. Volumes are lavish and incorporate rather less-expected cuts like cabochon, briolette and geode. Some stones are also sliced in a really raw way to offer the jewel contrast. The audacious settings are a nod to DJULA’s icons, like the snake which clasps a turquoise cabochon. They embrace and cage the stones, yet offer them protection.
