Bright, feminine and delicately macabre: a debut by Samuel François

Bocca Della Verità Necklace, Sad Sagittarius Earrings, Blue Sorrow Bracelet – the names of these pieces by Samuel François, a Paris-based fashion director of the international fashion magazine Numéro, who has recently presented his very own jewelry collection – speak for themselves.

They sound ominous, melancholic, even sinister. But don’t let them deceive you into thinking that this collection is dark and sad. It is anything but!

Stylistically somewhat reminiscent of Codognato – one the most influential Venetian artists in the history of modern jewelry – it strikes the eye as fresh and individual, with a feminine, light and surrealist twist. Most of these bold pieces are implemented in gold-plated brass and enamel. Each piece is handmade, hence absolutely unique and one-of-a-kind.

A self-taught jewelry designer, Samuel sculpts from wax the models for his pieces, and then works closely with the jewelers who cast them in metal and then enamel them.   Today, when skulls, skeletons and other macabre images on t-shirts, shoes and dresses are no longer considered taboo, these visual metaphors for the fragility and transience of life find new meaning in his extravagant and lavish, esoteric and surrealistic creations, spiced up with a dose of zesty humor.

The collection was inspired by Naples, renown for the cult of devotion to skulls which were believed to grant people’s wishes, and – as Samuel points out – by a very particular spot in the city: a bohemian, chic, little hotel, the Albergo del Purgatorio, which looks and feels like a boutique art gallery.   I

n Samuel’s vision, eerie motives are rendered in bright, cheerful colors, balancing jolly eclecticism with refined kitschiness and a bit of magic.

The collection is now available for admiration and purchase at Moda Operandi.