ExhibitionsBangles to Benches: Contemporary Jewelry and Design
Past Exhibition

Bangles to Benches: Contemporary Jewelry and Design

October 8, 2013 – August 23, 2015

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Nose by Marcel Wanders

Nose, 2002
Designed by Marcel Wanders, Dutch, born 1963
Gold-plated silver
4.5 cm in diameter
Photo by Wouter Vandenbrink

Ranging from mass-produced to one-of-a-kind works and from hand-crafted to digitally fabricated pieces, this exhibition focuses on the scale, range and creative dexterity found in many contemporary designers’ repertoires today. Innovative contemporary jewelry will be paired with other design objects — from chairs to climbing walls — created by the same designers.

This exhibition will celebrate the accomplishments of key designers currently in the High’s permanent collection, including Ron Arad, Fernando and Humberto Campana, Héctor Esrawe, Johanna Grawunder, Zaha Hadid, Joris Laarman, Marc Newson, Ettore Sottsass, Jr. and Marcel Wanders. The show will also highlight many of the High’s recent acquisitions by these designers and will demonstrate the range of contemporary design.

Examples of notable pairings in the exhibition include the modular Bone Structures necklace (composed of 18 leather pieces attachable by magnets) by Fernando and Humberto Campana alongside their vibrant 2010 Sushi sofa and the gold-plated clown Nose necklace by Marcel Wanders, displayed with his 2006 prototype Crochet chair made of hand-crocheted fiber and epoxy resin.