Along the Grain - Tracing moments of transition
Category: Accessories
Competitions: Fashion Competition 2025
'Along The Grain - Tracing Moments of Transition' is a collection of jewelry and wearable sculptures that seek to capture the strong, fleeting essence of life, its intensity, its flow and ungraspable nature. It was designed with sustainability in mind and with completely natural materials using cow horn and recycled sterling silver, in appreciation of the beautiful and traditional craft of horn working. In this collection, silver traces the body’s form then flows off with momentum as horn. I use the unique colour gradients of the grain of cow horn to consider the dynamic force that shapes our experiences, an energy that moves quickly and must be seized before it fades. The colour striations of horn crystalise a transitionary moment of speed and force of energy. My work carries a strong aesthetic identity, using the inherent qualities of horn to create bold and fluid forms. Horn grows naturally as the pointed keratin sheath that covers the bone projections from the skull of a cow. It is a tactile material that can be polished to a smooth and silky finish, and holds a warmth that invites touch. These qualities have made this a favoured material in the the past for creating objects meant for close intimate use such as jewelry, combs, rosary beads, spoons. Despite it's versatile use, its craft has largely been replaced by the plastics industry. Today, cow horn is primarily seen as a waste material, and often burnt or discarded by abattoirs. However, for my project I sourced horn material sustainably as a biproduct of the meat and hide industry. This collection is aimed at women in their 30-40s who embrace the fast paced and serendipitous energy of life and want to reflect this in how they present themselves. These women are city girls, who want to find connection to nature through engagement with rich raw materials, like horn.
