Uncover the sculptural types of Walid Akkad’s crimson gold animal rings

Franco-Lebanese jewelry designer Walid Akkad has reimagined animals as sculptural shapes in a brand new assortment of rings, ‘Bestiaire’. Unveiled on the Paris artwork honest, Advantageous Arts Paris & La Biennale, the 21 items in crimson gold are miniature artworks in their very own proper, and might be worn on the finger or displayed standing upright.

‘The vegetable and animal worlds have all the time been my principal supply of inspiration,’ Akkad tells us. ‘Often, I begin with a concrete topic or an present object after which purposely transfer away from it in the course of the creation course of. As I work on the design, the preliminary shapes disappear and grow to be summary. In the long run, you possibly can’t actually see the preliminary supply of inspiration within the ultimate design. For this new assortment, I took an analogous method. I wished the rings to be harmonious summary kinds when worn on the finger. Nevertheless, the distinction right here was that I wished the designs to return to life as animal kinds after they stand alone on their [bases].’

The designs embody a clear animal type with out compromising performance, associated to each the ring’s standing as a wearable object and an objet d’artwork. ‘Discovering the correct stability between aesthetics and performance has all the time been important for me,’ Akkad provides. ‘I by no means forestall myself from exploring new shapes however on the finish of the day, my designs need to be snug to put on and I by no means lose necessary elements like measurement, proportion and weight from sight. Hanging the correct stability between these two key parts requires lots of work, however a superb design has to make this look easy.’

Akkad’s ardour for natural world meets the stylised work of Henry Moore, Jean Arp and Brâncuși within the ensuing clear kinds and easy strains of the rings. For Akkad, guaranteeing the rings stood alone was important to the general aesthetic. ‘I wished the animal type to in some way seem within the designs and the one solution to do it elegantly was to create a foundation for them to face alone. The problem grew to become a part of the artistic course of. For instance, I needed to create hooves to make the horse ring stand alone.’