“Swans” Jewelry Collection: the Balance between the Japanese Minimalism and the Armenian Maximalism

“Swans” Jewelry Collection: the Balance between the Japanese Minimalism and the Armenian Maximalism

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From October 5 to 8, 2017 in “Meridian Expo” center there took place the exhibition of the new collection of “v.ann” /Vienn/ company.

Swan jewelry collection. Japanese minimalism and Armenian maximalism balance

This collection is also dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Armenian-Japanese diplomatic relations and it was held in the frameworks of “JUNWEX 2017” International Jewelry Exhibition, part of which was “v.ann” /Vienn/ company.
Vardanyan Anna- the founder of the company tells about the new collection, the Japanese pearls, the Armenian amulets and what relation do the brooches have with the old Armenian tradition to fix a pin on the skirt․․․
Japan?
•Yes․․․/she smiles/. We have approached very delicately to the “presence” of Japan in this collection. Being a great fan of the Japanese culture, more or less, I imagine how tenderly and gently they treat everything that surrounds them, especially the culture.

When creating the collection we have tried to bring to a symbolic balance our Armenian roots, the vividly expressed maximalism and the Japanese minimalism by embellishing with the traditions of the Armenian jewelry art.

“Swans” is not merely a collection of jewelry for us; there are no commercial ideas here. Here we have given freedom to our imagination; we have approached the art of jewelry and have ensured free space for our imaginary flights. We have put here ideas, cultural elements, traditions; we have tried to embody our perceptions of both countries and our knowledge in the most delicate and tender creatures that can be seen in the nature. Swans are unique symbols of the relations between two our countries based on the delicate threads of respect, love and the desire to know each other.
Thus, the swans connect Armenia and Japan․․․

“Swans” are the first joint novelty in the sphere of the Armenian and Japanese jewelry sphere; there are many historical, cultural and symbolic layers here.․․
For example, sea pearls: forgotten beauty and hidden symbolism.

•Yes, in the basis of the collection there are the pearls of the Japanese “Uwakoya” company producing pearls, as “v.ann” is the official representative of that company in Armenia. When creating the collection we have consulted with the Japanese jewelry designers on how “to contact” correctly and to treat the pearls used in the collection.

Armenia is not a sea country; from generation to generation, the Armenian women don’t have such a love and affection to the sea pearls. Here there is not so much the lack of love towards the pearls but the lack of the culture of wearing it. For some reason young people think that pearls can be worn only starting from the middle ages.

With the creation of this collection, “v.ann” broke stereotypes in Armenia by showing new approaches of combining pearl jewelry. We have shown jewelry flexibility. It is very offensive for us when the specialists visiting Armenia say that we can make only square and flat jewelry. The Armenians have 5000 years’ history of jewelry culture, haven’t they? Today also the Armenians are considered the best jewelers all over the world. It is high time to show everyone that the flight of the thought of the Armenian jewelers, designers is infinite.
But why just pearls? Because according to the Armenian tradition pearls are considered stones of tear․․․
•․․and even the brides avoided and now also they avoid wearing pearls with the wedding dress. But on the other hand in the 5000-year history of the Armenian jewelry there can be found a lot of evidence that due to the Armenian merchants pearls were widespread in Armenia, especially among the noble women.
Real sea pearls have been brought to Armenia and the same Armenian girls have worn pearls on their silver belts and hairpins. There are samples preserved in the History Museum of Armenia.

The Armenian girls wore pearls also on their veils and generally being rare stones among Armenians, they were considered very expensive and also stones protecting from an evil. They were ascribed mystical qualities- protecting from an evil eye.

Referring to the old Armenian traditions let me mention that in the collection we have presented pins as well. Type of this jewelry was maintained in the ancient samples that have reached us. And it has been for a long time that it had come out of the category of jewelry.
Do we talk about brooches? 
•The word goes not about the brooch but it’s about the pin. Formerly in Armenia, such jewelry was used by the queens, chieftains as amulets for protecting from an evil eye. Studying the history of pins, which were used by the Armenians, I can definitely mention one phenomenon, which has been preserved among women: let’s remember how our mothers and grandmothers fastened small pins on the edges of their dresses or on other hidden places of their clothes in order to protect from “an evil eye”. We have symbolically embodied this ancient tradition in our collection of pins.

But the symbolism of “Swans” is not limited to this. Though this unique jewelry has an Armenian origin, they will also be presented both with the Armenian and the Japanese style approach.
It has become a complete Armenian-Japanese cultural bridge.
At this moment, on the way of presenting ancient Armenian traditions newly, pins are absolute novelty in the modern jewelry sphere. None of the companies of the sphere has referred to the pins.
And jewelry, as a branch of the art can truly be a cultural bridge between the two countries.

Talk by Anna Tavaqalyan

the material is taken from http://week.am/karapner-presentation/

translated from Armenian into English by M.Vardanyan