A Close Look at Some Marvelous Julie Vos Jewelry
A fine definition of a truly insightful designer’s portfolio of work can be a hard thing to come by. Some of the more insightful designers color and pepper their catalogs with examples of designs that, while they don’t defy definition, do make it difficult to finely categorize them.
You will find roadblocks like this surrounding many of the greats in any given industry. In the world of fashion and design, one of these names is Julie Vos. On its surface, the impression is unassuming enough, but with only a mild degree of interpretation, it quickly becomes apparent just how complex and beautiful Julie Vos jewelry truly is. Only then can you dispel the wonder of why it sits so firmly at the peak of high acclaim.
Only superficially does Julie Vos jewelry bely the simplest of influences; her cosmopolitan education and free spirit have brought her face to face with many cultural and natural wonders that kindled her creativity. Travels around the world have brought her in touch with exotic architecture, historical gems, and even sights that the rest of us might have never had the good fortune to witness. Luckily enough for us, we do have some beautiful designs from Julie Vos to inspire that interest, even if only by proxy.
Geometric Influence
Take a quick and cursory look at some of the pieces from our Julie Vos collection. Perhaps the most salient trend she captures is in patterns that revolve around geometric influence. In many ways, architecture and art have been deeply colored by geometry - in some ways more than natural designs that seem removed from the mathematical laws of nature. A close inspection will yield that there is a unifying element in the mix; nonetheless, on its surface, it is easy to see where she has adopted the beauty of some geometric patterns into her mix.
Consider as an introductory example of her Cloe Earrings, which take the form of beautiful quatrefoils in 24k gold vermeil and are accented with semi-precious stones. The entire package, which would be somewhat discrete in presentation on a reduced scale, is bold and bright, and the charm of the setting is only the more aggrandized with the influence of intricate patterning along the margins of the quatrefoils.
Its geometric soul is evident right upon its very facade because quatrefoils are one of the least convoluted of common geometric patterns that you will find throughout history and art. From the sloped quillions of the classical image of Highland Claymores to the quatrefoil-inspired relief carvings and stonework that grace so many churches in western Europe, it is surely a design that has seen its share of daylight through history. Yet it is not solely mathematical in origin, and its inclusion here may betray some natural influences.
The quatrefoil is also immediately recognizable in the form of the clovers of the field, including the fabled four-leafed clover of legend. In fact, quatrefoil itself is french for “four leaf,” and so this influence can be seen as inclusive rather than solely derivative. Likewise, it can be found among many other plants and flowers.
This is only one fine example of this phenomenon in her jewelry. To see more closely how she unites the separate tropes that give her jewelry life, consider her Olympia Tassel Necklace, which makes another sharp statement about the unity between geometric and natural patterns.
This splendid necklace, which takes on the form of a 24k gold plated necklace over nickel-free brass that is sealed to inhibit tarnishing, is a true work of art. It is immediately alluring, and personal preference aside, this effect can be analyzed to be understood more fully. Not only is the effect immediate, but it is also one that has its roots in the merging of the artificial world and the natural.
Its geometric nature, like that of the Cloe Earrings above, can be clearly seen without any extrapolation. With a circular pendant that supports a suspended tassel, one needs to only touch the surface to see the influence of artifice herein.
The circle, which assumes the shape of an immediately recognizable elemental shape, seems to have little in common with the linear tassel at first sight. Yet it can be observed that the tassel is linear only due to the influence of gravity. Were it not for that, the least entropy in the system could cause its fluid lines to assume any shape, straight, angled, or curved. The tassel, affected in such a way, could become a circle, and as a circle is made of it, it theoretically encompasses everything that exists in the observable world. Just short of assuming the identity of the better-recognized infinity symbol, it is itself another symbol for the infinite. With the introduction as the ‘infinite’ nature of the observable world that is thus an influential theme for this necklace, it needn’t be said explicitly that this design merges with other natural influences as well.
Natural Influence
As it has been shown, it is nearly irrefutable that even while some of her geometric designs are interrelated with natural tropes that Julie Vos has witnessed throughout the course of her life, there are still a number of designs in our collection that overtly represent a natural color. Take a look at some of the following designs for illustration and you will see that many of these encompass a number of influences besides what they show superficially.
Take a look at her Bee Clip On Earrings, that take on a single large natural factor while at the same time being colored by more minor natural influences. These earrings, which take the form of a pair of bees in 24k gold vermeil, are embellished with your choice of semi-precious stones. You can find these earrings ornamented with pearls, onyx, or crystal, and each of them presents its own form of innate beauty.
At first glance, these earrings seem to be nothing more than a whimsical representation of a pair of bees made all the more alluring with a little touch of flash and glitter. While that is certainly true, if you peel back the layers you will see that so much lies beneath. Even without diving into what significance may lie behind or support the artist’s use of the different gemstones, the symbolism of the bee itself is enough to drive the interrogation.
Bees are culturally a symbol of hard, meticulous work. Even in antiquity bees were revered for their systems and were well known as critical to the health of an agrarian process.
In addition, bees were honored for the fact that they provided society with honey, and in the form of their beeswax, with light. It has only become more apparent with scientific investigation just how closely the health of pollinating insects is interlinked with the health of the greater ecological system.
What can be inferred from this? Well, plenty - but we will leave that up to you. All you must know is that, culturally, historically, presently, bees are eusocial insects that are critically implicated in the health of agriculture, and by extension with the entirety of human survival. It’s a trope almost as universal as the previously investigated theme of infinity.
Once you’ve cleared the concept of the infinite, what else could there possibly be to fall back onto? You’ve covered it all, but then of course there is the value of beauty for beauty’s sake and the poetic and emotional derivation of art from natural themes.
For this, it can be hard to find a more fitting example than Julie Vos’s Peacock Earrings, which, by the way, are clearly not only natural but geometric as well. In fact, were it not for the name, it might seem as though the analysis of this piece would fit better into the above section than to this one.
This set of earrings takes on the form of 24k gold vermeil accented by semi-precious stones, laid out in a beautiful, finely intricate pattern that can be hard to identify without close investigation. Even with scrutiny, it can seem as though they are cut out irregularly; a feeling that may be hard to dispel. Close investigation might yield the impression that the negative spaces within the earrings are of avian outlines. Nonetheless, the impression is geometric. With the inclusion of the name, the bridge becomes apparent. Taking a step back, the earrings are immediately recognizable as artistic interpretations of a peacock’s feathers, down to their very outline.
Cultural Influence
Then of course there are a number of designs in any given catalog of Julie Vos jewelry that gives away a certain measure of cultural influence. Many of her pieces of jewelry are deeply colored by cultural influence, although you will find that even these can be interpreted as crossovers of sorts.
Consider her 24k gold plated Coin Bangle, which at first appears to be online a mashup of golden beadwork or metalwork, but with a closer look becomes an apparent collection of coins. Interestingly, it defines a very close interpretation of its elements, but it is only so finely detailed enough to be recognizable as coins. These coins that make up its construction are anonymous in detail, and they are crafted to provide a measure of deniability in their character. Visual scrutiny will yield the conclusion that they are coins; but how old they are, or from where, remains an unanswerable question.
The Coin Pendant is another great example of Julie Vos Jewelry that has been colored by the traditions of culture. Like the Coin Bangle, it has been noticeably colored by the influence of coinage, although the fact that this piece is suspended by an unornamented chain puts all of the emphasis on the pendant, which is where the coin rests. Whereas the Coin Bangle effaces its own identity in repetition, this Coin Pendant throws its identity into sharp relief.
The count that serves as the central pendant of this piece, however, is much more convoluted and involved than the coins that constitute the other piece of jewelry. Yet, even more interestingly, even with a close analysis of the coin in this pendant, it can be hard to identify a single element. If you step back, you will immediately recognize it as a coin, but if you get too close it can lose its identity and will assume nothing more than a confusing and disparate mass of shapes and patterns.
Yet taking it for what it is, without parsing the elements too finely, you will see that this necklace takes on the character of a storied piece of jewelry. In fact, it appears somewhat like a vintage piece since it seems to build an antique coin (although unidentifiable) into its design.
It also bears noting that the fact that this piece of jewelry has a number of fine elements offers the interpretation that it is not only inspired by cultural influences but also by geometric and natural themes. In such a way it can be extrapolated that there is a beautiful balance or harmony between the elements of design that you will find in any Julie Vos catalog.
A Beautiful Harmony
As you can see, in any collection of Julie Vos designs - and ours is no exception - there will be a number of pieces that underscore natural, geometric and cultural influences. The number of individual items we have exposed from our collection represents a very small portion of our total catalog of Julie Vos designs. Yet, even from this small sample, it is readily apparent that none of them is completely isolated. Each one of them in its own ways draws in from a number of wells, despite how simplistic or overt they may appear at the surface.
In each piece of jewelry, there is a delicate balance and interplay between the different elements of design, elements that Julie Vos has effortlessly unified in each pair of earrings, in each necklace and ring. To find your next addition to your collection from our catalog, check out our assortment of Julie Vos Jewelry and take some time to get familiar with her designs; we’re sure you’ll find something to capture your heart.