If you love jewellery and you love art you’ll probably have heard of Louisa Guinness, the owner of the gallery of the same name specialising in gems designed by artists. Until July last year her space on Conduit Street in London was a mecca for an “art jewel”, defined as a piece made by a painter or sculptor such as Picasso, Alexander Calder or Max Ernst, or a contemporary design by Anish Kapoor, Grayson Perry or Jeff Koons. But ten years after opening, Guinness decided it was time for a change and shut the doors of her shop for the final time last summer.
Fast-forward to today and the Louisa Guinness Gallery has risen again, this time in a bijou corner spot on Kensington Church Street, just moments away from where Guinness lives. Previously it had been home to Peter Edwards, an antique jewellery dealer who had decided to retire (though not quite — he will retain half a showcase of vintage jewels in the new space).
With a new location comes a new focus, this time on contemporary jewellers. “For the past couple of years at Christmas time I’ve curated a small show called Things I Love,” she says. “My clients really liked that idea of my selection of current jewellers, and this,” she explains gesturing around her, “is basically that — things that I love.”
Most of the space will be dedicated to her new direction in showcases recycled from the Conduit Street gallery. And it’s a who’s who of the contemporary jewellery scene, with an emphasis on London-based jewellers but also casting the net as far as Milan, Brazil and America. “I don’t always like everything that everyone does,” Guinness admits, which means the edit is a tight one, necessitated also by the intimate space. There are statement rings from punk-inspired Hannah Martin, intricately carved signet rings from Castro Smith, wooden mushroom earrings by Silvia Furmanovich, palm-leaf earrings by Giorgio Bulgari, and pieces from Cora Sheibani’s Pottering Around collection in coloured titanium and carved hardstones. Other gems include Emefa Cole’s elemental pieces, Alice Cicolini’s coveted enamel and precious gemstone colour combinations, Francesca Villa’s reworked vintage cameos and Melanie Georgacopoulos’s modern-day twist on pearls.
A small selection of Guinness’s own designs will also be available — including a pair of delicate rose-cut diamond shoulder-grazer earrings and a colourful beaded necklace. Special one-off projects are also in the offing: “I’ve got a plan for next year — I’m going to source a selection of ethically mined gemstones and give one to each of my designers to go off and make something special, and we’ll do a group show here.”
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A small selection of her “art jewels” will be on display with her wider curation accessed by request. “It’s such a narrow market,” Guinness says. “It’s wonderful and I love it, but I wanted to expand into a wider realm. I saw all these great designers making jewellery and I didn’t know where to go and buy it. This will take all the legwork out of it — if you want interesting design that’s beautifully made, then hopefully this is the answer.”
louisaguinnessgallery.com
