Jagged, uneven, solid, long and thick shards of glass form unlikely gems for postmodernist necklaces and bracelets: looking at them you wonder if the wearer may get hurt by putting them on, but then you realise that's definitely not going to happen. The pieces you're staring at - part of the latest collection of jwellery by Ron Arad – could actually be considered as clever optical illusions, since they do not integrate real shards of glass, but silicon.
On display as part of the "Ron Arad Rocks!" solo exhibition (until 22nd April) at the Louisa Guinness Gallery in London (45 Conduit Street), the new designs are the culmination of three recent projects dating from 2015 to the present day, entitled "Rocks", "Hot Ingo" and "Naja". 
Formally and technically Arad may be an architect and designer, but, when you look at some of his works, you realise he is more of a sculptor playing with materials and pushing them to their limits.
In the '80s his approach to coarse and industrial materials meant that he was often filed under the "postmodernist punk" label, but architect Richard Rogers defined him better when he called him a "poet of technology".
Born and trained in Israel, Arad moved to London where – like the late Zaha Hadid – he studied at the Architectural Association under tutor and Archigram founder Peter Cook.
Since founding in the early '80s his One-Off studio, Arad also designed shops and spaces for the fashion industry, producing several iconic furniture pieces. He quite often employed salvaged materials and found objects, selecting them for their shapes and textures, so that spotting and saving a suitable item became an art in itself.
"Ron Arad Rocks!" focuses mainly on the architect and designer's fascination with a few specific materials reworked and reinvented using various techniques and technologies.
The "Rocks" series doesn't include any precious gems, but it could be considered as a clever example of wearable optical illusion since it is entirely made from soft and pliable prepared silicon shaved, sculpted and hand-carved by Arad to resemble shards of glass in a variety of forms and shapes.
The designer integrated bits and pieces of coloured or graphically patterned silk inside the silicon to add another layer to the pieces: check out in particular the necklace incorporating optical fabrics by the Rive Roshan experimental studio. 
New technologies characterise instead the "Hot Ingo" earrings and necklace: these light pieces aren't made by hand. Arad turned to computers and the latest technologies for them, wrapping a thread of 3D printed (a technique Arad also applied to eyewear) laser sintered polyamide around minimalist bars of gold, platinum, silver or rhodium.
The best thing about these pieces is that you can reinvent the designs and wear them as you wish since the polyamide thread can be stretched out or compressed. The pieces take their name and inspiration from Arad's long standing friend and collaborator Ingo Maurer.
The final series, "Naja", combines instead elegance with functionality: the series consists in designs characterised by a serpentine coil of silver or vermeil wrapped around a magnifying glass pendant made of a solid quartz lens.
The creations included in this series - designed by Arad, made by a goldsmith and taking its name from the circular ocelli patterns on the hood of a Naja cobra – are actually quite practical and have a humorous touch as well, since the quartz lens can be used to read, coming to the rescue of the short-sighted wearer in an emergency situation.
Though this exhibition mainly focuses on jewellery, it displays a connection with the A-POC collaborative interior design/architecture/fashion project Arad did a while back with Issey Miyake.
Miyake designed in 2006 the "A-POC Gemini" vest that could be used as a proper garment or to upholster the iconic "Ripple" chair (2002) by Arad.
It may not be possible to turn these jewellery pieces into functional interior design elements, but you can easily wear Arad's jewels or use his designs so decorate a space. At the same time, you could read this exhibition both as a fashionable event with an architectural angle or as a small and compact interior design exhibition crossing the boundaries between fashion and industrial design.
Image credits for this post
Ron Arad
Rocks Necklace (8), 2016
silk and silicon
19 x 22 x 2 cm
Ron Arad
Rocks Necklace (11), 2016
silk and silicon
63 x 7 x 2.5 cm
Ron Arad
Rocks Necklace (10), 2016
silk and silicon
28 x 17 x 3 cm
Ron Arad
Rocks Necklace (5), 2015
silk and silicon
fabric by Rive Roshan
18.3 x 4.8 x 2.3cm approx
unique
Ron Arad
Rocks Bracelet (1), 2015
silicon
11.2 x 3.2 x 1.8 cm approx
unique
Ron Arad
Rocks Necklace (2), 2015
silk and silicon
26 x 25 x 2.6cm approx
unique
Ron Arad cuts the "Rocks" of cast silicon with fabric by Rive Roshan
Ron Arad
Hot Ingo Earrings, 2015
blackened silver and white laser sintered polyamide
10 x 2.5 x 2.5cm
edition of 100
Ron Arad
Hot Ingo Earrings, 2015
blackened silver and white laser sintered polyamide
10 x 2.5 x 2.5cm
edition of 100
Ron Arad
Hot Ingo Earrings, 2015
silver rods with red laser sintered polyamide
10 x 2.5 x 2.5cm
edition of 100
Ron Arad
Hot Ingo Earrings, 2015
18k rose gold and black laser sintered polyamide
10 x 2.5 x 2.5cm
edition of 100
Ron Arad
Hot Ingo Earrings, 2015
18k rose gold and black laser sintered polyamide
10 x 2.5 x 2.5cm
edition of 100 Price
Ron Arad
Naja, Perfectly Coiled, 2015
vermeil with quartz lens
weight: approx. 75 grams
diameter: 6.5cm approx
edition of 25
Ron Arad
Standing Naja, 2016
vermeil with quartz lens weight: approx. 75 grams
diameter: 6.5cm approx
height: extendable to 16 cm.
Unique
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