Gothic

The dark arts of the catalogue. Skulls and skeletons built bead by bead, bats that hang the way bats prefer, black cats, serpents that coil twice around the wrist, a wolf under a full moon, and a Victorian collar of black beaded lace. Nothing here is printed or cast — every bone, fang and wing is woven from glass seed beads by hand in Ukraine.

Some pieces are seasonal, most are not. Gothic is not a costume; it is a taste for the night side of beautiful things.
Articulated black and white beaded skeleton earrings on cream

Field note № 7

Beads for the night side

Black glass has a long memory: Victorian mourning jewellery was strung from it, and a black-ground gerdan makes every red burn brighter. Our skulls, bats and serpents are beaded exactly like the poppies — the same seed beads, the same hands in Ukraine — only the motifs have changed.

Read the field note