14 September 2021
Gaia Repossi, artistic director of the brand founded by her father (now owned by LVMH), has created a jewelry collection inspired by the world of Robert Mapplethorpe. It was with one of his works (Puerto Rico 1981) that she began her personal collection of photographs. Drawing on the archives of the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation and the Getty Research Institute, her pieces are based on those worn by the artist, such as the multi-chain diamond necklace. Others are interpretations of elements found in his photographs and collages. Among my favorites is the black and yellow gold ring, whose shape, which spans two fingers, is based on the American flag in which Lisa Lyon is wrapped in a 1982 photo. Not to mention the necklace adorned with a lobster claw (a recurring feature of Mapplethorpe’s work). In this type of “post-mortem collaboration”, it’s always intriguing to wonder what the original artist would have made of it all – given that he used to make jewelry for himself and his friends…
Repossi x Mapplethorpe - Necklace in gold with a ruthenium coating on some pearls including one paved with diamonds and one cultured pearl
Repossi x Mapplethorpe - Necklace in white gold paved with white and grey diamonds
Repossi x Mapplethorpe - Ring in white gold paved with diamonds / Ring in yellow gold and black gold
Pendant in yellow, pink, and white gold with a black ruthenium coating, diamonds set on Puerto Rico photo © Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation / Gaia Repossi in the archives of the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation © Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation © Jeremy Everett
In the showroom of Repossi © Sandrine Merle
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