How the bad boy of Seventies photography nurtured a talent for jewellery

That the late, great American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe made and sold jewellery early in his career isn’t a secret – his long necklaces strung with all manner of found objects (dice, crab claws, beads, rabbits feet) are immortalised in photos of him from the 1970s. His lover David Crolund sold pieces the two had made together at Sotheby’s in New York some years ago, and many of Mapplethorpe’s self-portraits included his rustic, hand-made adornments. 

Now, the spirit of those works has been given the fine jewellery treatment by the house of Repossi in a 15-piece collection, eight of which are now on view at Dover Street Market, London. 

Paris-based jeweller Gaia Repossi has long been an admirer of Mapplethorpe’s, his photograph Puerto Rico, 1981 being her first art acquisition. Invited by The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation to work on a project that would see her create jewellery inspired by the artist’s own hand-made pieces, the designer entered three years of research and development. “Between the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation’s archive in New York and the Getty Center’s collections of objects I viewed around 100 references and thousands of little objects he had gathered over time in his early work period,” Repossi says. 

“After digesting the archives, I sorted them by themes that I could see were present in his iconic photographic work which came later,” she explains. “Once they were classified, I started sketching about 80 references of my favourites and interpreted some, and for others redrew them as tributes but using fine materials and certain design twists. I later presented these drawings to the Foundation with the matching source of reference and later edited down to a focused collection.” 

The results – the first half in any case (Repossi told me that the second half, being presented next year, is “a surprise) – are hugely varied in style – much like Mapplethorpe’s own creations. “Jetty” sees Repossi’s Antifer collection reimagined in softer lines, its hard edges smoothed and rounded, and its gold humbled and brushed into a faintly worn patina.

A more literal interpretation of Mapplethorpe’s photographic work is the Americana Flag ring, inspired by his 1982 photograph of bodybuilder Lisa Lyon with her arm draped in a flag. Yellow and black gold recreate the stripes, and the ring culminates in a length of metal draping out from the finger. Mechanic is a fully moveable ring in white gold and diamonds inspired by one of Maplethorpe’s necklaces, while Relic Claw is a high jewellery piece nodding to the artist’s predilection for random, found objects, many of which Repossi was able to see during her research. 

“There were so many (of them)” she recalls. “From chicken claws, to rabbit paws, devil symbols to monkeys and goats, keys and hardware, beads, BDSM suggestive elements, but always with an incredible elegance.” Relic Claw focuses on a large crab claw in white gold, strung on a chain alongside yellow and white gold beads, a tiny diamond orb like a disco ball, and a cultured pearl.

While Repossi and Mapplethorpe fans alike will appreciate the works, it’s the artist himself that Repossi would most like to see them on. “To me, they almost feel as if they were his, as the collection is a tribute to his work and legacy,” she says. “I worked humbly trying to imagine what he would have loved to see in fine materials. Michael Stout, his former lawyer and president of the Foundation was his only remaining eyes for me, and seeing his reaction and enthusiasm confirming the level of approval Robert would have had was everything to me.”

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