Infinity in her eyes, eternity in her ears: hoop earrings by Taffin
Can a man know a woman so well that he can create exactly what she wants?
In a moment of doubt, I recalled James Taffin de Givenchy, a jewelry designer, an expert in exotic gems and the founder of TAFFIN – the eponymous couture jewelry house, creator of pieces that are both zesty and experimental.
James Taffin de Givenchy is an alchemist, balancing emotion, intellect and logic to design one-of-a-kind objects of wearable art.
His easily recognizable designs often feature unconventional materials: rubber, ceramic (Taffin’s signature ingredient), wood, even steel from recycled AK-47s, resulting in thrilling challenges and, on occasion, a royal pain for the house’s jewelers who must find ingenious and innovative solutions to bring those imaginative projects to life. And, ultimately, pure joy for the women who will be wearing them!
Among James’s recent, dreamy creations are large hoop earrings: a delicate lace of carved white jade, sprinkled with rose gold ceramic and turquoise beads.
Time and time again, I’ve come back to these mesmerizing, semitranslucent jade circles: looking for the perfect angle, the perfect light, the perfect painting to reveal their transcendent beauty and breezy vibes. My many searches have at last come to an end with the intriguing portrait of a woman by Chris Gambrell.
Hoop earrings are as old as time. In Ancient Egypt, even cats were pictured with hoops in their ears. Bast, or Bastet – the Egyptian goddess of home, fertility and childbirth, protector of home from evil spirits and disease, embodiment of gracefulness and affection – was sculpted and portrayed as a black cat wearing a gold necklace and gold hoop earrings.
That said, they never fall out of fashion. Throughout a history of ever-changing tastes, trends and styles, these eye-catching classic circles, symbols of eternity, might sometimes accidentally disappear from the horizon, only to make an even more ambitious and spectacular comeback.
The hoops by TAFFIN are back!
For woman, for the goddess, and for a stunning amalgamation of both.
