Samuel Kopp
Shell Necklace
2024
created for the film ‘Le bal masqué’ as a tribute to Jean Schlumberger. Both the shells and the pink crackle glass date from the 1930s. Jean Schlumberger used some of the shells for Schiaparelli's haute couture jewellery in the 1930s. ‘Schlum’, as he was known, designed haute couture jewellery for Schiaparelli from 1937 to 1939. After the war, he became head of the jewellery department at Tiffany's in New York, where he was the first to be granted the right to sign the jewellery with his name. The shells were fitted with eyelets and re-gilded by hand in Pforzheim using high-carat gold.
Pianist, collector and jewelry designer Samuel Kopp over the years has not only collected important historical custom jewelry but has combined it with his love for music and poetry. In musical salons at his town house in Basel, Switzerland, he performs historical music on authentic instruments, often in combination with a presentation from his collection of jewelry or fashion. In collaboration with film makers, actors and historians, Kopp has created several films that re-enact historical settings with great precision and playfulness. As a true connaisseur of custom and historical jewelry, Samuel Kopp also creates his own pieces, mainly combining fragments of historical jewelry with contemporary parts and precious stones.
About Vintage Costume Jewelry:
Costume jewelry– also known as Fashion Jewelry– was especially made popular in the mid-20th century. While their materials were less precious than real gold and diamonds, using glass stones, semi-precicious stones and lead and brass, many big fashion houses and designers produced highly complex pieces of jewelry that stand for craftmanship that today can only be found in so-called Haute Joaillerie. Most famously, Coco Chanel popularized the use of “faux jewelry”, bringing costume jewelry to life with gold and faux pearls. Chanel's designs drew from various historical styles, including Byzantine and Renaissance influences, often featuring crosses and intricate metalwork. Her collaboration with glassmakers, such as the Gripoix family (Maison Gripoix), introduced richly colored glass beads and simulated gemstones, which added depth to her creations without the high cost of traditional precious stones.
Elsa Schiaparelli– Chanel’s lifelong rival– brought surrealist influences into costume jewelry design, famously collaborating with Salvador Dalí and Jean Cocteau. She created the House of Schiaparelli in Paris in 1927, celebrating Surrealism and eccentric fashions. Her collections were famous for unconventional and artistic themes like the human body, insects, or trompe-l'œil, and for the use of bright colors like her "shocking pink". While Schiaparelli had to close her avant-garde business in the late 1950s and was forgotten for decades, her designs have recently been rediscovered and are celebrated for their bold design.
In many instances, high-end custome jewelry has achieved a "collectible" status and increased value over time. Today, there is a substantial secondary market for vintage fashion jewelry. The main collecting market is for 'signed pieces', which have the maker's mark, usually stamped on the reverse. Amongst the most sought after are Miriam Haskell, Sherman, Coro, Butler and Wilson, Crown Trifari, and Sphinx.
The term signed however is an invention that only reached European production in the late 1950s- when American buyers started to ask for authentification to distinguish high class designers from mass-produced pieces, while in Europe all costume jewelry had been issued by the fashion houses themselves and hence remained somewhat exclusive from the start.
Samuel Kopp
Shell Necklace
2024
created for the film ‘Le bal masqué’ as a tribute to Jean Schlumberger. Both the shells and the pink crackle glass date from the 1930s. Jean Schlumberger used some of the shells for Schiaparelli's haute couture jewellery in the 1930s. ‘Schlum’, as he was known, designed haute couture jewellery for Schiaparelli from 1937 to 1939. After the war, he became head of the jewellery department at Tiffany's in New York, where he was the first to be granted the right to sign the jewellery with his name. The shells were fitted with eyelets and re-gilded by hand in Pforzheim using high-carat gold.
Pianist, collector and jewelry designer Samuel Kopp over the years has not only collected important historical custom jewelry but has combined it with his love for music and poetry. In musical salons at his town house in Basel, Switzerland, he performs historical music on authentic instruments, often in combination with a presentation from his collection of jewelry or fashion. In collaboration with film makers, actors and historians, Kopp has created several films that re-enact historical settings with great precision and playfulness. As a true connaisseur of custom and historical jewelry, Samuel Kopp also creates his own pieces, mainly combining fragments of historical jewelry with contemporary parts and precious stones.
About Vintage Costume Jewelry:
Costume jewelry– also known as Fashion Jewelry– was especially made popular in the mid-20th century. While their materials were less precious than real gold and diamonds, using glass stones, semi-precicious stones and lead and brass, many big fashion houses and designers produced highly complex pieces of jewelry that stand for craftmanship that today can only be found in so-called Haute Joaillerie. Most famously, Coco Chanel popularized the use of “faux jewelry”, bringing costume jewelry to life with gold and faux pearls. Chanel's designs drew from various historical styles, including Byzantine and Renaissance influences, often featuring crosses and intricate metalwork. Her collaboration with glassmakers, such as the Gripoix family (Maison Gripoix), introduced richly colored glass beads and simulated gemstones, which added depth to her creations without the high cost of traditional precious stones.
Elsa Schiaparelli– Chanel’s lifelong rival– brought surrealist influences into costume jewelry design, famously collaborating with Salvador Dalí and Jean Cocteau. She created the House of Schiaparelli in Paris in 1927, celebrating Surrealism and eccentric fashions. Her collections were famous for unconventional and artistic themes like the human body, insects, or trompe-l'œil, and for the use of bright colors like her "shocking pink". While Schiaparelli had to close her avant-garde business in the late 1950s and was forgotten for decades, her designs have recently been rediscovered and are celebrated for their bold design.
In many instances, high-end custome jewelry has achieved a "collectible" status and increased value over time. Today, there is a substantial secondary market for vintage fashion jewelry. The main collecting market is for 'signed pieces', which have the maker's mark, usually stamped on the reverse. Amongst the most sought after are Miriam Haskell, Sherman, Coro, Butler and Wilson, Crown Trifari, and Sphinx.
The term signed however is an invention that only reached European production in the late 1950s- when American buyers started to ask for authentification to distinguish high class designers from mass-produced pieces, while in Europe all costume jewelry had been issued by the fashion houses themselves and hence remained somewhat exclusive from the start.
