MomoCreatura

I did a makeup job a while ago for jewellery brand MOMOCREATURA, created by uber-talented jewellery designer Momoko Tamura. We shot the collection in a warehouse studio in Stoke Newington and it was styled by my friend Verity Pemberton who is an amazing stylist and also designs for Urban Outfitters as well as launching her own magazine - MOON.

The collection itself is really cool; each piece represents a small, sculpted animal cast in either gold or silver. It has a sort of fairytale/secret garden vibe about it but with a ‘Brother’s Grimm’ style twist to it, sounds weird and it kind of is but from the shocking to the delicate there are so many different little pieces it’s not hard to find something to love!

The silver and sapphire snake ring

My favourite pieces have got to be the rings, since doing the shoot Momoko gave me one of the snake rings made of oxidised silver with tiny sapphires for eyes and I’m in love with it! Momo makes the rings (and all of her other pieces) by hand, first modelling tiny pieces of wax under a microscope and then making a mould of each design, which is then cast in gold or silver. Knowing how much work has gone in to making the designs makes the detail of each intricate piece even more stunning.

The "spirit of love" rings - head and tail

The snake comes from Momo’s La Cirque Macabre collection, another favourite of mine, from the Secret Garden collection, is the ‘spirit of love’ ring. The ring can be bought in two parts, a head, and a tail, the concept of which is pretty cool in itself and they depict an embodiment of what Momo described as ‘the spirit that comes out of a rose when it dies.’ She didn’t want her collection to be all about beautiful things, and by making this ‘spirit’ with it’s bizarre appearance she seems to be challenging our perceptions of beauty. I really like the story behind the ring and it had a heaviness to it that felt good when you slid it on your finger.

 Chained bears from the 'Nearly Dead' collection

Momoko's jewellery is truly stunning if a little controversial. I’d highly recommend checking it out, all of Momo’s work can be seen at www.momocreatura.com.

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