Zaha Hadid designs range of silver jewellery for Georg Jensen

Architect Zaha Hadid has designed a collection of silver jewellery for Danish design house Georg Jensen, including a twisted cuff and a ring that fits over two fingers (+ slideshow).

Lamellae Twisted Cuff by Zaha Hadid

Designed to reference the sculptural forms and curves of Hadid's most famous buildings, the eight-piece collection will debut at the Baselworld watch and jewellery show in Switzerland this week.

"Working with Georg Jensen presented an opportunity to express our ideas in different scales and through different media," said Hadid.

Lamellae Twisted Cuff by Zaha Hadid

"There is an inherent integrity within the organic structural logic found in nature and we often look at the coherence of natural systems when we work to create environments," she added.

Lamellae Twisted Cuff by Zaha Hadid

"Our challenge was to translate that into something that can be worn; to reinterpret the rich history and tradition of Georg Jensen’s design approach into something new."

Lamellae Twisted Cuff by Zaha Hadid

Each piece is created from sterling silver, and some also feature black rhodium and black diamond details.

The Lamellae Twisted Cuff – described by the architect as the collection's defining piece – will retail at £1,975.

It incorporates a sweeping S line that makes it look as though it has been twisted in the middle.

A double-finger ring bears a resemblance to Hadid's pebble-shaped Wangjing Soho towers in Beijing, which was completed in 2015.

Lamellae Twisted Cuff by Zaha Hadid — Zaha Hadid has also designed a site-specific installation accompanying the collection

In addition to her jewellery collection, Hadid has also designed a site-specific architectural installation for Georg Jensen for the Baselworld show taking place from 17 to 2 March.

The installation, which was conceived as an extension of the jewellery collection, will serve as a lounge area for visitors.

Hadid has worked on a number of jewellery designs, including latticed gold filagree rings for Caspita and a series of sinuous pieces for Swarovski, but is best known for her landmark architectural projects such as the Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku and Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul.

AmmaarahF

Please tell me I’m not the only one who thinks these are disgusting? Oh gosh, they look painful to wear.
- Bolly
  
  Get a grip.
  - AmmaarahF
    
    Not in that ring ;)
- Tamizhan
  
  Well they wouldn’t sell something for £2000 if it’s painful to wear. ;)
  - Nicki Theokritoff
    
    There are plenty of shoes that cost a lot that are painful and dangerous to wear, so why not the same for a bit of jewellery – or are you being facetious?
- Think
  
  I think the bangle/bracelet is quite beautiful. But as with most jewellery, it’s how you wear it.
  - AmmaarahF
    
    I mean they’re definitely statement pieces! I guess it’s just a personal taste thing.
Sim

It would be easier to understand these if they had been worn by someone in the pictures.
- HeywoodFloyd
  
  This is for the same reason as to why her building renderings are always from above. In all of her work the specific function, context and relationship to the user are secondary to the form itself.
a guest

You never know if they are buildings, shoes, canopies, jewellery, boats, etc. Everything from Zaha looks the same.
dick_c

Nice!
HeywoodFloyd

Her aesthetics and design philosophy are much better suited to making jewellery than architecture.
Gdavies

Stunning! She’s criticised unfairly too often.
N/A

Ana Thompson’s Vortex Ring. This was launched at International Jewellery London Sept 2015. I think Zaha Hadid found her inspiration there: http://www.ana-thompson.com/atzn40m4tteuaqfewr6y2qp9wn7llv
- W. Sose
  
  Thanks for the Ana Thompson URL. Some lovely designs. However the actual inspiration for Zaha Hadid’s Georg Jensen designs would seem to me to come from her Soho buildings in China, especially the Wangjing Soho – http://www.dezeen.com/2015/05/19/zaha-hadid-completes-pebble-shaped-wangjing-soho-towers-beijing-offices-retail/ – which won the 2014 Emporis Skyscraper Award, and whose design evolution would thus predate the Thompson jewelry pieces you reference by quite a few years.
  - N/A
    
    I understand your point about how the rest of the collection takes reference from the Soho buildings with their horizontal lines and pebble-like forms, however the cuff seems to stand-alone from the rest of the collection.
    
    The only apparent reference on the ‘twisted’ cuff are the decorative stripes across the form, but the form itself still seems to me to be very similar to Ana Thompson’s designs.
agagnu

Architects are first and foremost designers. Buildings since the advent of Zaha and her followers and imitators have overblown the Capability Brown architectonic folly; with inserted interior program. So any shape will do.

Remember the nursery rhyme?

There was an old lady who lived in a shoe.
She had so many children she didn’t know what to do.
She gave them some bread …etc.
And put them to bed.
Jess Thinkin

She’s a contragender doppelganger of Frank Gehry. But God can she design!
Delbert Grady

Can’t wait to live inside of one of these coupled hang nails!
agagnu

RIP Zaha Hadid, untimely death for one still having so much to break into the baroque of your architecture. Your objects here will make great grave markers and one of our boat designs will make a great casket. (And this is not derogatory).

I can visualise a dedicated cemetery to you and with you designers laid to rest. I will find out where you rest and I will visit to pay my respects.

From a one-time acquaintance at a joint crit.