Sylvain Rieu-Piquet Agathis Ring

Sylvain Rieu-Piquet’s Imagined Nature jewellery collection consists of 24 unique bronze and 24k gold rings, cast in organic forms bursting with vitality. Despite the rings named after flowers or plants, the specific design of each is based purely on features and textures conjured from the artist’s own imagination. After experimenting with preliminary drawings, Rieu-Piquet shapes the wax mould for each ring on his fingers, improvising their final forms. Too raw, and the piece becomes chaotic and illegible; too refined and it freezes and loses potency. Rieu-Piquet seeks a specific balance between strength and grace.

Each unique ring is accompanied by a unique ceramic case, an artwork in itself. In a material dialogue, the impulse for life contained within the precious metal rings is balanced against the ceramic case which express a move towards death, breakage, decomposition and a fall into dust. The combination of these two primordial principles lends an existential dimension to the collection.