A C C E S S O R I E S / Material Merging at Margiela

Experimenting can lead to wonderful new ideas. One of the things that I was impressed and inspired by from the Maison Martin Margiela show last week was how high tech techniques were applied in a Haute Couture collection: these pieces of jewelry made out of crystal and white matte resin.

I imagine the Swarovski design atelier looking somewhat like a lab. Their team is partly made up out of technicians, engineers and mathematicians who experiment with crystal (apparently, Swarovski does much more than only produce sparkles for asian nail salons). They somehow managed to fuse crystal with a white matte resin, merging them with pressure and without any glue involved. Then took the samples of their newly found technology to Paris and asked for a vision from Maison Martin Margiela. Who came up with the idea of shapes and cuts resembling natural stalactites. In the beginning it was a complete experimental adventure, it was still even unsure if it was going to work out and if there was ever going to be an end product. But now two years later, the line is finally a reality. My favorite pieces were the multi purpose tie- and document-clips; which can be clipped pretty much everywhere and also be used as an office accessory.