Page 16 - VE Magazine - Issue 26

fashion
Music of the spheres
First to create a line of Sputnik jewellery was international star H. Stern, a Rio-based jewellery house that used it to showcase the variety of gemstones mined in Brazil. The 18 carat gold bracelet from 1957 has 12 spheres, each set with many different coloured gemstones. The single sphere 18 carat Sputnik ring is set with 19 various coloured stones. H. Stern also made brooches, earrings and necklaces in the same style.
The front and back of Stern’s pendant, shows the coloured gemstones off beautifully
Out of
Eternal flame
Born in 1924 and still making jewellery today, Betty Cooke’s mostly abstract gold and
silver spheres and tubes are as precariously balanced as an Alexander Calder sculpture, with bold sweeping lines and moveable parts. She also utilises contrasting materials such as plastic, wood and enamels in combination with metals. These fantastic atomic brooches constructed from metal, wood and Plexiglas are from the early 50s but look really modern today, as do her starburst designs, which are still in production.
this world
After Russia launched the first
artificial earth satellite in 1957, both Cartier and Hermès produced Sputnik-style brooches and clips in its honour. Cartier’s designs
were typically spectacular;
these sculpted ear
clips, with matching
brooch, project three-
dimensional gold rays,
and each carries the
highly sought-after Cartier
16 / February-March 2016 / ve
www.vintagexplorer.co.uk