Celeste neckpiece and cuff by Zaha Hadid for Swarovski
August 4, 2008. The new Celeste neckpiece and cuff by Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher for Swarovski’s Gem Couture collection features the architect’s signature fluid forms and wrap their wearer in a way that could represent either armature or armament – or both. Applying her three decades-long morphological investigations to an open breastplate and bracelet, Hadid remakes a category of jewelry in the vein of the greatest mid-century studio jewelers. She takes advantage of the dynamic aspect of her liquid lines, wrapping the torso and neck and coming to rest momentarily on the shoulder (as if having reached a comma) before descending the arm in a snaky 45 cm coil to end on one finger, almost like a ring. Made from blackened pure silver and encrusted with precious stones, including white topaz, smoky quartz and black spaniel, the collar descends 43 cm, a lucid and yet lyrical extension of the studio’s architectural vocabulary. swarovski.com, zaha-hadid.com