The impressive entrance to the British Museum
The other day I popped by the British Museum to listen to Nicky Butler introducing his new jewellery range together with Barbara Hulanicki. You might be familiar with the shop Butler & Wilson, and Nicky was one of the founders back in 1972. We will find out more about Butler & Wilson in a future post, but today we are looking closer at his fascinating new range that is inspired by the ancient Egyptian collection of the British Museum. Barbara Hulanicki interviewed Nicky Butler during this presentation, and you will probably recognise her as the founder of the clothing brand Biba, which dates all the way back to 1964.
Nicky Butler and Barbara Hulanicki at the British Museum
The pieces in Nicky Butler’s collection are made with semi-precious stones of turquoise, lapis, moonstone, green chalcedony and amethyst with iconic mouldings of ancient Egyptian objects. The stones in each piece have been hand-set, that creates such a beautiful collection of statement pieces. They are arriving at the perfect time, since we are all wearing statement pieces at the moment, whether it is with a simple t-shirt or a structured dress – such versatile pieces! During the presentation a few beautiful models were showing them off:
Some of the beautiful statement pieces being modelled in the Egyptian Sculpture Gallery
Who said these pieces were only for the ladies?
Stunning pieces worn with a sequin dress
I suspect that I was especially drawn to the collection because of its connection with Art Deco, which we all by now know is my favourite era! You might in fact remember from an earlier blog post – Eclectica Antique Shop in Wynberg, Cape Town – chapter II – that the Tomb of Tutankhamun was discovered in 1922, and as a result ancient Egypt became a very heavy influence on the Art Deco movement. Consequently Nicky Butler’s collection drew my thoughts to Art Deco, which added an another layer of brilliance onto these beautifully designed pieces.
The model above is wearing the jewellery with a sequin dress – I would love to find out how you would have worn it?
The Egyptian Sculpture Gallery at the British Museum really is decorated with the most magnificent sculptures
Ancient Egyptian sculptures at the British Museum
I of course found myself straying during the evening, toward the stunning Egyptian sculptures that surrounded the event.
One sculpture more intimidating and fascinating than the other…
If you haven’t been to the museum for a long time – or ever – I would so recommend a visit. Strolling among these exquisite sculptures that date so far back in time is the most humbling experience. I don’t think that anything has ever affected me the way this lion sculpture did that evening – I had to walk very close to it to get past, and for some reason cold shivers went down my spine when I came close to these massive teeth and its angry expression. Quite a different experience when we are usually so numb to these things from having watched too many scary movies!
A few of the pieces from Nicky’s collection
If you fall in love with any of these pieces you can buy them at the British Museum‘s online shop or at the museum itself – and I was positively surprised to see that they were very reasonably priced, starting at £55 and going up to £275.
Decades of Elegance 