“Pomegranates” is a collection of non-narrative storytelling concerning birth – bloom – death, the journey of life itself.
This collection’s designs are based on the seeds of pomegranates, implemented through an attempt to imitate the technique of granulation via hand-sculptural plasticity. Pomegranates are the fruits of prosperity symbolizing luck and renaissance, cherished by many cultures and implicated for the sake of art, customs, and sacred ceremonies -mainly throughout the Mediterranean & Middle East- across centuries to this day. The seeds of pomegranates -the jewels of the fruit healer and love potion, or the fruit of the dead according to ancient Greek, Arab and Persian mythology- ignited the vision of “wearing them” beyond seasons, beyond time, in perpetuity.
Due to their deep red color and unique exuberant formation, pomegranate’s etymology (ρόδι / rhódi in Greek) is connected to the words of fertility, fortune, power, cleanse and success, as well as abundance rebirth and so on, in coherence with the verb ρέω (ῥέω / rhéo), meaning to flow; to exist into a constant state of flux. The intention of this narrative is to convey a personal story of the founder & designer of °’HRIAM, revolving around an object, in particular, a suitcase and a pomegranate tree. The colliding imagery is leaning towards an intuitive -instead of a historically linear- consequential imagery regarding the intricate course of living. Consequently, in this collection, you can notice the seeds, the tree that sprung from them, its blossoms, and fruits. This endless cycle correlates to the passage of one generation to the other, in an attempt to conquer eternity.
The POMEGRANATES collection consists of 4 rings, 2 pairs of earrings, 2 necklaces, 1 nose-ring, 1 body-chain, 1 bracelet, 1 anklet and 1 pair of cufflinks, available in both white and sand 18k gold. The meticulous granulation applied in these artifacts stands as an abstract and conceptual emulation of the pomegranate grains. Therefore, the aesthetic language is mainly semantic and the style is raw and complex yet minimal, illuminating the designated granulated and incised textures of °’HRIAM. Inspired by the tangible organic composition and naturalistic form of the pomegranate fruit, the carving is completed by a frosting manifestation of rough finishing. The jewels’ sole purpose is to convey their possessors’ story, dripping in gold.
Welcome to my universe of treasures; each piece of my jewellery withholds the warmth of the sun and the spark of the people who inspired them. — Méri Charitonidi
