Natural Object Jewellery

Natural Object Jewellery

The first type of organic jewellery that is mentioned in the Virtual Gallery of Contemporary Jewellery’s paper on Organic Jewellery is the use of natural objects that were once living, such as bone, leaves, shell, skins and wood to create objects of jewellery (Quickenden 2000).

Before precious gems and metals were discovered in prehistoric times, people adorned themselves with pieces of bone, wood, teeth and animal skins to create organic jewellery. The use of natural objects in jewellery is the oldest form of jewellery known in history. When people discovered gold and gemstones, we saw a great transformation in the way that jewellery was made, people started producing jewellery from precious materials and this became the norm (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2019). Today, the bulk of jewellery that is manufactured in the world is made out of precious metals and gems, but with the rise in contemporary jewellery artists, we begin to see more jewellery that is being made with unconventional materials including organic materials (Quickenden 2000).

The image below is of a neckpiece that was made by Kelly Jean Conroy, it is made from the actual bones of a dead animal. This is an example of natural object jewellery (kelly jean Conroy, 2019).

Figure 3 – Conroy, K.,
 Neckpiece. [Online]