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The use of silver in contemporary jewellery
Silver is a noble metal with very valuable particularities for jewellery. It is a shiny and resistant metal, yet ductile and malleable. Contemporary jewellery – a discipline that moves towards the field of art and the democratisation of the sector – has seen in silver a precious and versatile material, capable of being used to create inspiring designs, where different techniques and metals are combined.
Based on creativity, and endeavouring to surpass the limits of design of traditional jewellery, contemporary jewellery introduces conceptual and inspiring designs, freeing itself from industrial production and the restrictive rules of traditional jewellery. Contemporary jewellery identifies the metals as the starting point of a creative process that is crystallised in pieces capable of transmitting and strengthening the personal construction of whoever wears them.
Among the metals used in jewellery, silver is of great importance. However, it is also very ductile and malleable material. This makes it a metal with great creative capacities.
Silver, an ally to develop the creativity of contemporary jewellery
Another particularity of silver is its capacity to be combined with other rather unconventional materials, typical of contemporary jewellery.
The growth of contemporary jewellery, as from the second half of the 20th century, represents a revolution when conceiving and designing jewellery. From its beginnings, silver took on great importance in the use of new jewellery techniques that led to more creative jewellery, far from traditional standards.
We find an example with the Russian designer and goldsmith, Naum Slutzky. A member of the Bauhaus School of art and design, he was interested in the capacities of silver through jewellery. So in 1930, he presented a silver necklace with enamel, combining a precious metal with a new creative technique, which consists of pouring a layer of molten glass over the silver.
Silver and nylon: a combination to produce mobility and lightness in the item of jewellery
At Majoral, they have taken full advantage of the particularities of silver to create bold collections with a great symbolic capacity. In the Pluja (Rain) collection, the silver combines with nylon to emulate drops of water that fall in a disorderly way on one of those typical drizzly days in the Mediterranean. The combination of an austere material such as nylon thread with a noble metal, such as silver, give the collection a bold and provocative character that does not lose the elegance of a refined and classic taste.
Oxidised silver: new tonalities with the same precious metal
The Majoral Pluja (Rain) collection has some pieces with oxidised silver. On submerging the item of jewellery in a special patina, the silver acquires a darker colour, creating new tonalities and possibilities in the field of design.
Majoral’s Crete collection also has pieces made with oxidised silver. Inspired by the laurel crowns of ancient Rome, the oxidised silver offers a darker tone, reminiscent of a millenary culture.
Contemporary jewellery and its boldness to paint silver
The white brightness of silver enables us to combine it elegantly with colour. This is the case of the Bots collection, where different tonalities of blue acrylic paint are used to paint the jewellery. The boldness of contemporary jewellery of painting silver leads to jewellery with a strong contrast, strengthening the volumetric plays in creating. One more example of the capacity of silver to allow creativity to run free.
