The London-based designer celebrates the anniversary with The Perfect Drug collection (02) and the volume Hannah Martin: Iconoclast, A Jewelery Rebellion.
For Hannah Martin, jewelery is a gesture, a physical act, a stance. Twenty years after the birth of her brand, the London designer celebrates a journey that has always rejected the idea of ornament as an end in itself, choosing instead the path of rebellion, sensuality and identity experienced on the skin. The anniversary takes shape in the collection The Perfect Drug (02) and in the volume Hannah Martin: Iconoclast, A Jewelery Rebellion, a double project that talks about coherence rather than celebration. Born in England in 1980, trained at Central Saint Martins and moving on from the Cartier counters in Place Vendôme, Martin soon chose an independent trajectory. Today he works in his independent workshop in East London, where he continues to blend impeccable craftsmanship and countercultural attitude. “In a world numbed by digital overload, feeling is the most radical act we have,” said the designer. “And it is precisely for this reason that the jewelery shop becomes the ideal place to affirm an identity, take a stand, escape the rules”. His creations arise from a direct relationship with the body. Carnal curves in gold and silver alternate with engineered structures, bracelets that seem like architecture to be worn, surfaces designed to be perceived before even observed. “Each piece is created to be felt, rather than worn. Because jewelry is an extension of the self. It is anything but ornamental.” Looking back over these twenty years, Martin rejects the idea of a straight line. Each collection was a passage of personal as well as creative growth: “They are born with blood, sweat and tears. Each one transforms me, adds a layer to the complexity that makes us human”. A process that finds a more conscious synthesis in the new The Perfect Drug (02). “Over time I learned not to be afraid to show myself for who I am. To accept desires and inclinations. This has made me freer and clearer in my language.” Already two decades ago Martin was exploring gender fluidity in jewellery, when the topic was still marginal in the luxury lexicon. “At the time I was seen as an eccentric. There weren’t even the right words to describe what I was doing.” Today that language has entered the debate, even if she rejects any pioneering claims, preferring to speak of coherence and insistence. Collaborations with the world of music were also fundamental in his path, experienced as spontaneous dialogues rather than strategic operations. This is the case of the meeting with Guy Berryman, born by chance during a flight and transformed into the Vanitas collection. “She had been wearing one of my jewels for sixteen years. It would have been a crime not to notice that sign.” A project that revolves around the awareness of time and living every moment intensely. “I came to the jewelry store almost by chance,” concluded Martin, “and as soon as I learned the rules I felt the need to break them all.”
