Jewellery & Metal (MA)
Shivani Tyagi
Born and brought up in India, I am Shivani Tyagi, an ambitious jeweller working with pearls lately. In 2018 I completed my under graduation at the National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi, Bachelor of design, in Fashion & lifestyle accessories. The same year I entered RCA to pursue my MA in Jewellery & Metal. I am associated with reputed organizations like UN Women, Van Cleef & Arpels, and Lovisa. My work has been exhibited at Exhibit 320, India (2019), The RCA Dyson Gallery, London (2019), The Sunny Art Centre, London (2020), Hiroshige Gallery, Japan (2020) and The Gallery No Space, China (2020).
2020 for me is all about establishing myself, as a jewellery brand that focuses on challenging the preconceptions that exist around Pearls and Mother of Pearl. Stereotypes motivate me because they urge me to break them. In Pearls, I am putting the spotlight on baroque pearls, to elevate their identity in the industry. With my work, I intend to place the Mother of Pearl in Fine jewellery shelves not just as jewellery pieces but as objects of art which hold unique aesthetic. It is primary for me to bring about creative freshness in the jewellery around the world with my designs.
The Halo I
The Halo II
Being used in many cultures worldwide, Mother of Pearl is a seldom-seen entity in fine jewelry today. Regardless of its popularity, it has never reached the pearl’s symbolic status. My design is an effort to celebrate Mother of pearl’s qualities as a material that’s strong, resilient, iridescent, and naturally rich in colours. This is a ring designed entirely using Mother of Pearl and Baroque Pearls. What interested me specifically to the baroque pearls was each one having its unique irregular shape and texture.No two baroque pearls are absolutely the same. From the myth of pearls having a halo around them, I made a unique halo of the baroque pearls around the mother of pearls signifying its brilliance as a material. The Mother of pearl has been used in such a way that its unique texture and colours come forward to express themselves fully.
Medium:
Baroque Pearls & Mother of PearlsSize:
70 mm x 55 mm
The Amalgam I
The Amalgam II
The Amalgam III
"We are not perfect but we can make perfect combinations".This design does abide by this quotation. Designed as a combination of Mother of pearl, Baroque Pearl, and Button Pearls, Using all these materials which are often left out as imperfections. Jewelry is not just an accessory to adore but also a strong entity of character. This piece of jewelry is a strong combination of materials having similar properties but different outlook just like us humans. We are all the same yet all different.
Medium:
Mother of Pearls, Baroque Pearl & Button PearlsSize:
65 mm x 35 mm
The Oldest New I
The Oldest New II
The Oldest New III
When an irritant penetrates the protective shell of a mollusk, the mollusk secretes the only material it has at its disposal, NACRE. Thus Nacre is called the mother of pearl because it is the same material that gives us the fabulous pearls. Having the same material characteristics as that of a pearl, the mother of pearl is relatively a poor perceived material. Be it Baroque pearls or the mother of pearls, the jewellery industry has often placed them in the back shelves. Each of the Mother of pearl is blessed with a wonderful lining and pattern of its own, similarly, the baroque pearls have their own unique structure and form. This design brings together these two stunning materials like never before. Bringing in a sense of natural balance, this ring celebrates the impeccable rawness of both the materials. The mother of pearls has been used in such a way that it still holds the baby pearls on its surface, showing the charming relationship between the two. Such a jewellery piece stands strongly as the only one of its kind since the same cannot be replicated in any natural way.
Medium:
Baroque Pearls & Mother of PearlsSize:
63 mm x 58 mm
The Trapped Soul
An exotic brooch made out of half-cut baroque pearl, incorporating thread art. This jewellery piece is an original creation amalgamating jewellery making technique with threading craft. The piece is inspired by a quotation that I came across in my primary research on the pearls which said: “The Pearl, a perfect gem housed within the earthy body.”The piece metaphorically represents the soul encased within the physical human body.
Medium:
Baroque Pearl, Sterling silver wire & sheetSize:
33 x 20 mm
The Sculpture Stack I
The Sculpture Stack II
The Sculpture Stack III
A line is a dot that went for a walk - Paul Klee. Similarly, a Baroque pearl is grit that went for a walk in the oyster. The first determining factor of a pearl's shape is its position of the growing gem within the shell of a mollusk. Baroques generally develop in the muscles of the oyster. Pearls that move within the shell during their growth take unusual shapes. Be it a baroque pearl, button pearl, round pearl, or a pear pearl at the end of the day they are all Pearls, and human's imagination has room for every kind of pearl. Though used rarely in comparison to the round pearls, the Baroque pearls have been used in jewellery design as resemblances of fruits, body parts or entire human figures. I have explored them as entities to make an unusual sculptural form out of them that gets its inspiration from stone balancing art. In recent times the pearls have been sliced, quartered, drilled and caged but this is an effort to stack them together for the first time.
Medium:
Sterling Silver, Baroque Pearls & Button PearlsSize:
67 mm x 30 mm
The Balanced Stack I
The Balanced Stack II
The Balanced Stack III
This Composition of Baroque Pearl and Button pearls presents itself as a ring, fresh and pleasantly unique in its design. Inspired by the stone balancing art, the button pearls are treated as precious pebbles. Stacking button pearls together gives a sense of unseen balance and equilibrium. The age-old practice of beading the pearls in a row together gets a much-wanted break here. It’s an effort to change the narrative around pearls both physically and metaphysically.
Medium:
Sterling silver, Baroque Pearl & Button PearlsSize:
35 mm x 65 mm
The Lotus Stack I
The Lotus Stack II
The Lotus Stack III
A Persian legend says that pearls were created when a rainbow met the earth after a storm. Imperfections in a pearl's appearance were the result of thunder and lightning. Inspired by the saying this design utilizes the circumference of the baroque pearl to form an arc of button pearls around it, coming together as a ring. It is an exploration into the relationship of baroque pearls with button pearls in contemporary jewelry. The ring replicates the silhouette of a lotus flower in abstract thus renamed after the same.
Medium:
Silver, Baroque Pearl & Button pearlsSize:
27 mm x 40 mm
The Rainbow Stack I
The Rainbow Stack II
This is a pair of earrings designed by the peripheral stacking of the pearls, to form a rainbow in a unique dimension. Here, the use of colourful button pearls gives a refreshing vibe as it brings around a striking combination in totality. The usage of button pearls is rare in the jewellery industry, involving such an ignored material in my designs I bring about a new perspective.
Medium:
Silver, Baroque Pearl & Button pearlsSize:
32 mm x 50 mm
The Book Stack I
The Book Stack II
The Book Stack III
This unique design is a pendant that comprises of horizontally stacked pearls, which have drawn their inspiration from the arrangement of books stacked next to each other horizontally. It’s interesting to play with the perception of direction here, in particular about the value that it brings in design and how one perceives it.