Few designers call their jewelry making “a small paragraph in a big book,” but then, Mimi Lipton is not your traditional jeweler. Born in Vienna, Austria, in 1928, the Londoner says that “jewelry has never been in the foremost of my thoughts. It was an accident.”
The former art curator and furniture dealer collected uncut stones as well as antique pieces of carved amber and jade, corals and shells on her extensive journeys across Africa and Asia. She had her findings set in 22-karat gold because of its “wonderful sheen,” which she favors over its “dull” 18-karat counterpart. All the pieces she created — in collaboration with artisans in Nepal, China and Latin America, as well as with European students she met at fairs and end-of-year shows — were for her personal use. A 2014 exhibition and a book entitled Untamed Encounters: Contemporary Jewelry from Extraordinary Gemstones (Thames & Hudson) charted her striking creations. Today, her collection of one-of-a-kind jewels, in which the gems and natural elements remain uncut and untouched, is available through curated fine-jewelry shopping concept Objet d’Emotion following Lipton’s meeting almost three years ago with founder Valery Demure.
“I looked at Mimi’s collection, and instead of seeing jewelry, I saw a life’s journey. I saw something else. What interested me was not just the jewelry, but the soul behind the jewelry,” says Demure.
Found beauty
What makes the pieces so enticing, explains the Objet d’Emotion founder — who has developed a strong friendship with Lipton — is not the materials they contain, but the artistry, vision, memories and stories behind them. Speaking during a webinar hosted by trade group The Glitterati last month, Demure recalled that “their beauty took me by the guts. It’s powerful and strong.”
In the same event, Lipton discussed her appreciation for the natural world. “I never think of the gem, as most of the ones I use are found on the beach. What I like is what can be done with very little,” she explained. “What’s interesting is to create a work of art out of what is a shell or a stone. It’s easy to do jewelry with something that already has value and is interesting, but if you find something that is a different shape or a different color and you make something out of it, it becomes beautiful. That’s what makes me happy, what gives me my kick.”
Material world
Gold jewelry came late in Lipton’s life. It followed years of collecting silver pieces from Moroccan Berber villages, which she explored in the late 1960s, as well as indigenous ornaments from Burma, Tibet and China. Her insatiable curiosity led her to amass snail shells, kingfisher feathers and Chinese toggles, which are rarely seen in high jewelry.
One of her favorite necklaces features black coral, raw aquamarines and a crystal, which she purchased in Venezuela, India and Vienna respectively. Ram Rijal, her craftsman in Nepal, assembled the elements into a finished piece. This confluence of provenances is one of the things that make Lipton’s work so outstanding.
Looking ahead, the 92-year-old ponders the reception her creations will get from collectors. “My jewelry is about individuality and a preciousness of nature’s elements. I think my pieces will be admired in the future in a way that people don’t fully understand today.”
Collect or Perish: The Private Collection of Mimi Lipton is available at objetdemotion.com
Article from the Rapaport Magazine - April 2021. To subscribe click here.