An artful collaboration: Montréal designers team up for superhero-inspired collection

by carly_midgley | November 15, 2017 10:05 am

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What happens when two artists working in totally different realms meet for the first time? In the case of Montréal’s Sandra Chevrier and Kate Hubley, they explore their commonality, and the result is a street and fine jewellery collection[2] inspired by the power of words.

The decision to work together was made shortly after Chevrier (a renowned contemporary pop artist enjoying success worldwide) and Hubley (an award-winning fine jewellery designer) met.

“When I met Kate, we were both curious about our respective creative fields of work. We quickly thought about collaborating on a project,” says Chevrier. “Many ideas came to mind, and we felt we could create a jewellery collection that is unisex, very tasteful, and simple—and that would represent my work as well as hers.”

“It felt like such a natural connection,” says Hubley. “Sandra consciously incorporates the words from torn comic book pages in her art. The esthetic and meaning behind them instantly reminded me of the ‘eternal mantras’ inscribed on my Stackology rings.”

In her ‘Superhero Cages’ series, Chevrier highlights the fragility, struggles, and weaknesses of superheroes through masks of conflict, triumph, and defeat. She says her intent is to “expose the humanity within the superhuman.”

So, why expand from art into jewellery?

“I’ve been working on my Superhero Cages for a couple of years now, and I always want to push the theme and explore different possibilities,” she says. “I’ve worked with various media, such as paper, wood, bronze…and now precious metal.”

The new jewellery collection is based on three phrases Chevrier feels are central to her and her work. Those phrases are:

• “Always,” spoken by the title character in The Death of Superman;
• “And without the dream, there is no power,” from a comic book in which Batman and the Joker are in a “Dali-esque sort of Wonderland;” and
• “We are one.”

This final phrase is not directly quoted from a book, but is a representation of Chevrier’s perspective on the world.

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“I felt there was a need for people to come together, hand in hand—to shout out loud, cry and laugh together, fight for one another, and not let the others down,” she says. “Just like superheroes, those who are united are on a mission to save the world despite all the ugliness in it.”

It is a tall order to translate this into jewellery, but Hubley feels she is up to the task.

“It is a tremendous responsibility bringing someone else’s vision to life in a jewellery line and overseeing the production,” says Hubley. “The simplicity of these pieces demands a great deal of rigour and attention to detail. I have to be sure that Sandra is proud when she turns over each piece and sees her signature.”

So far, it seems Hubley has achieved her goal.

“The result is exactly what I envisioned,” says Chevrier. “I’m ecstatic about releasing this project, which I hope will speak to a lot of people.”

Source URL: https://www.jewellerybusiness.com/news/artful-collaboration-montreal-designers-team-superhero-inspired-collection/

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