Solange Azagury-Partridge.

fashion
11/25/2009

Dreams that glitter: Solange Azagury-Partridge. Photography by Jenny Van Sommers.


by Andreas Soteriou


Solange Azagury-Partridge beckons me into her office at the end of a long, busy working day. Nestled in a quiet West London side street, her working space is less opulent than her nearby boutique on Westbourne Grove, though equally as colourful and inviting.


A range of literature on subjects as diverse as ancient mythology and  Ozzy Osbourne line the bookshelves, alongside eclectic psychadelia purchased on the internet. From within the multi-coloured riot of her "inspiration wall", an Andy Warhol print of Elizabeth Taylor makes eyes at Peter Blake's Bobbie Rainbow on the opposite side of the room. Solange has a thing for rainbows; today she wears a small rainbow transfer tattoo on her wrist, set off by a ring of glass enamel encased in a delicate gold skeleton. The ring is one of several "real fakes", that feature in Stoned, her latest jewellery collection. The new designs depict the various literal, cultural and sensual connotations of the title in a range of jewels and precious metals. Rainbow structures and colour schemes feature here also, providing the inspiration for a set of chandelier earrings, a headband and a gemstone ring, alongside other designs based on shooting stars, flowers, and stones extracted from dates and cherries. There is no fruit on offer today, but there are chocolate biscuits.

Instead of orchestrating an advertising campaign, Solange has decided to introduce Stoned by giving the jewellery a starring role in "The Letter", a self-produced short film directed by Laurence Dunmore. In the five-minute vignette, Thandie Newton plays an adulterous wife who secretly plans to desert her husband (Jason Isaacs). She prepares for her grand escape by adorning herself some of the bangles, rings, earrings and a pendant from her own personal Stoned collection before tipping the rest in a holdall and making a discreet exit. Solange explains that the film "presents the way that the jewellery lives on a day-to-day basis". Whether or not they are likely to inspire notions of infidelity among her loyal customers is perhaps open to question, but as Thandie's final keepsake from an unhappy relationship, the exquisite gems certainly beat a few boring old photographs...


Andreas Soteriou: What are the predominant themes in the new collection?

Solange Azagury-Partridge: It is an exploration of the word "Stoned". To be stoned is not only to be high but also to be transported by the beauty of stones, to be stoned when you wear stones. There is also the narcotic element, so there are poppy pods and designs based on the chemical structure of cannabis. There are fruit stones, a stone as a shooting star, the Medusa who turns you into stone when you look at her and an Afghan poppy revealing a woman protecting herself from rocks and stones.

AS: There seems to be a mixture of old a new influences in the collection. The mythological aspects and designs that you have revisited, such as your trademark lips motif...

SA-P: There are all sorts. There are so many things that have been done before as far as jewellery is concerned, so I suppose a lot of it is re-interpretation. There are ancient techniques that haven’t been utilised for a long time and I like to revive them a bit. The "real fakes" are a new idea for me, creating false gemstones with real gold and an ancient technique called plique-a-jour enamel, which I think started off in the 16th or 17th century and hasn't been used very much since.

AS: Do you make a conscious decision to study and incorporate those traditional elements into your work?

SA-P: Yes, definitely. It is important that things don’t die away.

AS: You have created a happy marrriage within the collection between the bold, clean lines of the geometrical designs and the more subtle, intricate pieces. Would you agree that they complement each other?

SA-P: I think so. I mean, who would think that geometric structures are part of nature? But they are. Nature isn’t just organic or all about leaves and grass and trees. If you look into the atomic structure of everything... My diamond collection is all about the beauty of maths. I mean, I am rubbish at Maths but the shapes that Maths creates are absolutely beautiful.

AS: What is interesting about your approach to your work is that you seem less interested in the relationship between jewellery and fashion, but more so in the more value of your pieces as decorative objects. 

SA-P: My jewellery has a sculptural quality to it, which I think is very important. It also needs to be more than just meaningless beauty. It’s got to have some hidden depth to it.

AS: How important is the way that a new collection is introduced to the world for the first time?

SA-P: It is so hard to present jewellery. Really hard. It is so tiny and almost very easy to miss. Like my shop: the whole environment is in order to enhance the tiny little piece of jewellery. That is what it’s there for. For this collection, I’ve produced a film for the first time. It is not about the story of Stoned, but the jewellery is a character in the film. It is part of the story. I normally do a party and I put the jewellery on display and everyone looks at it and we have a nice time. For this collection, I wanted to do something different.

AS: You grew up in this area of West London. Was it important that your business and your shop should be based in such a familiar location?

SA-P: Well, I also live within walking distance. It is quite a holistic way to live. You’re not wasting your time travelling to and work, being close to home, being close to the kids’ schools, your friends and family. 

AS: Your second shop opened this year in New York. Did you find it easy to adapt to a different, unfamiliar environment?

SA-P: I have always been on the premises with my staff, with my jewellery and available for my clients. It is quite strange to have a place that is so far away that I go to occasionally. But it is being beautifully run by a great bunch of people and it feels like home when I go there. It does feel diffferent, but it’s nice to have a home base in a completely foreign city.

AS: At the time, quite a lot of fuss was made over your decision to open the second shop during a recession. Did it annoy you that some people chose to focus on that?

SA-P: Well people do, don’t they? I dont know... My motto is just, “Carry on regardless”, do you know what I mean? (laughs) Adapt or die. Once you’re rolling along, what can you do? Maybe the world is going to end in 2012, but we are all going to die one day, so let’s just enjoy it while we can. 

AS: You have described jewellery as "a necessity, not a luxury"...

SA-P: Yes, it is to me. There are so many different levels of what jewellery means. It is adornment, it’s accessories, your dowry, your fortune. You know, it is often for the woman as a trophy to the man. There is jewellery in the new collection that is for women to protect their femininity. I don’t think jewellery has to be expensive or intrinsically valuable. I am in a lucky position in my life at the moment, but I think that you can find beautiful things everywhere. I remember I had a gold sleeper hoop earring with a shell that I’d found on the beach, and that’s what I wore for years and years and years. You know, it cost me nothing but it was beautiful and lovely. Things don’t need to be expensive to be beautiful. I mean, I am working with expensive materials and expensive labour, and it’s all time-consuming and everything. You can only make things cheaply if they are mass-produced, but that is expensive in another way, because you need big distribution and more marketing, It is a different way of doing things. 

AS: You have had some first-hand experience of that side of things, though, through your collaboration with H&M.

SA-P: That was great fun. I loved it because it was a whole load of different materials to play with, which give you a load of fresh ideas. I am sure that ninety percent of the customers didn’t know who I was, but I was really happy to know that it had all sold out. That was very meaningful to me. I know a lot of people like my jewellery but can’t afford it, so it was very nice to know that I could appeal to more people if necessary (laughs). 

AS: Did you enjoy the collaboration?

SA-P: They were very easy, lovely people to deal with. They facilitated things brilliantly.AS: That was just after your tenure as creative director of Boucheron. How did the two experiences compare?

SA-P: It was just a different bunch of people. You know, the process is not so different. You start off with a concept, with designs and then you collaborate with the people in production... And then that’s possible, that’s not possible... Then, you adapt, change, work things out and see prototypes. It’s kind of the same, in a way.

AS: How did you manage to balance your role at Boucheron with the running of the business in London?

SA-P: It was really hard. I mean, it was fantastic but it was a whole new lifestyle. I had a flat in Paris and I was there for three days a week, leaving my kids and husband behind for that time. It was big, but it was good, very instructive, and I met some great people. 

AS: I think that we should talk a little about your internet shopping habits.

SA-P: Oh! (laughs). Well, I really hate shopping and I’m really lazy on that level. Most of my shopping goes on in Westbourne Grove, because it's whatever shops I am walking by. I might go to the West End once or twice a year and kind of do a big splurge, or whatever. But, what’s great about the internet is that you can be like, “Oh, I really want a green light that glows” or whatever you want. I wanted some rainbow sunglasses for my last party. Rainbow sunglasses, up they popped, £1.50. It’s like magic, and then it arrives on your doorstep. It’s like, “Your wish is my command”. That is what’s amazing. 

AS: There is definitely something about that process that appeals to the collector in people. 

SA-P: People see my jewellery on the internet. They email and ask questions about prices. We do sell pieces that way. Jewellery is kind of like shoes; if you know your ring size and you can see it three-dimensionally, then you can kind of understand what you’re going to get. Generally, though, I think people have seen it and touched it before they make a decision.

AS: Don't you think that some of those people are missing out on the experience of visiting your shops?

SA-P: I don’t know. When I am desperate for something, I don’t care. I just want it and don’t need  to go into the shop. I am actually probably my worst nightmare customer (laughs). I think about the price, I drive the people mad. I am just terrible so it is much easier for me not to bother people and just shop on the internet.

AS: Do you always notice jewellery on other people?

SA-P: Yes. Always. You notice everything, don’t you? From the head to the shoes upwards. I always wonder about the story behind people’s jewellery. I think it is fascinating what leads people to wear what they’re wearing. What I’ve noticed, and it’s funny, I was the same way, is that young people who start off with jewellery always choose silver. Always, always, always. It is like gold is too much, and silver just feels more discreet, younger. It is affordable as well, that is the other element.

AS: I probably shouldn't have asked that, as I am not wearing any at all. Does that reflect badly on me? 

SA-P: Not at all. I don’t judge anybody. Actually, I don’t judge people for their taste in jewellery, how they look or what they wear because I don’t think you should. I used to be very judgmental when I was younger, because I think that everybody is. But, you know, maybe it was a gift from their granny, or their husband, or their mother. You must never refuse a gift of jewellery. Never. 



http://www.solangeazagurypartridge.com/

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