The Collection
The golden age is before us, not behind us.
There exists a myth in every civilization that tells about a distant past, when humankind lived in a primitive and simple state. In those days, the myths tell us, there was an instinctive harmony between man and nature. Men’s needs were few and their desires limited, and they felt close to the Gods. These stories are inscribed in all cultures and resurge with special vitality in critical times. However, the projection of the myth does not take place towards the remote past, but towards the future or a distant and fictional place, like an earthly paradise or glorious afterlife.
Christopher Columbus followed directly in this tradition as he believed that he had found the Garden of Eden when he first encountered the New World, later to be known as the continent of America. Maybe it is so that in every journey we embark on there is an echo of this remembrance.
The 2011 collection from Bjørg is in it self a journey. It’s a playful quest of a paradise lost to be recollected. Multicoloured feathers, bright blue horsehair and fluorescent opals, the beauty and fragility of a butterfly wing forever captured and kept in a small handmade glass dome. All reminiscences of that imaginary Garden of Eden.
Yet, temptation and the inevitability of decay is always luring as a reccurring theme. A shiny gold snake to be swirled around your fingers. Bones, knuckles and spine structures are crafted into powerful rings, cuffs and body chains.
The over all expression is raw, bold and playful, yet elegant and mesmerizing. Most of the items works as unisex pieces, and holds a universal power and aesthetic, rather than confinement to gender or sex. By mixing traditional craftsmanship and mythology with more modern and urban concepts the collection speaks both of stories in the past and of the time to come.
Secret words and messages can be found as cut out letters, embossed types and engraved poetry. What appears to be a classic pearl at first glance turns out to be a petit human skull at closer inspection. Crystals caged in triangle shapes and meteorite-like stone structures in gold constitutes a magic symbolism captured in secret codes and a forgotten language.
- www.bjorgshop.com
Just stumbled across Bjørgs lookbook for S/S11 and adore the Eastern Nomadic, if not exotic, creative direction. The collection itself has a natural element with spine structures, feathers from paradise and entwined snakes being seen throughout. Paired with the chalked figures in poses relative to religious or astrological belief, shrouded in cotton and with the odd parrot flitting about, you can't help but be in awe of the mystic surrounding this shoot.
all images www.bjorg.com
