Decouverte : Kerry HOWLEY – Human hair as jewellery

 Human hair as jewellery: would you wear it?

As a newly graduated art student, it’s important to discover your niche, and London based jewellery designer Kerry Howley has certainly found hers. Hair. Yes, human hair. Now, in my book jewellery and hair are words that should only be combined with a sentence using ‘tangled’, right? I would certainly not expect ‘made of’ to be the connective anyway. But what was I saying about pushing boundaries, for Howell’s graduate project was just that. As a series of 5 striking necklaces, with delicate lace-like aesthetics, the pieces were made entirely from human hair. Taking inspiration from Damask wallpaper patterns, the artist used broken saw blades to cut and weave the tresses into abstract shapes to elegantly adorn the neck. Spending a thorough 60 hours on each piece, there’s no arguing the pieces qualify as couture, it’s just usually we don’t find couture so creepy.