Shinola honours Georgia O’Keeffe with a new watch

Shinola has unveiled the latest watch in its Great Americans Series, a sleek new tribute to artist Georgia O’Keeffe. The Shinola Birdy was inspired by the elegant simplicity of her 1950s painting, My Last Door, for the clean minimalism of its face.

‘We chose to honour Georgia O’Keeffe in Shinola’s Great Americans Series because of her incredible contribution to art and culture, and willingness to be a trailblazer,’ says Shinola vice president of creative design, Ruthie Underwood. ‘Both Georgia O’Keeffe and Shinola employ a simplistic approach to design, while animated by the natural and organic choice of colour and material.’

The new classic watch design joins past tributes to the likes of Henry Ford, the Wright brothers, Smokey Robinson, Maya Angelou, and Muhammad Ali in a celebration of inspirational Americans. This watch, limited to 100 pieces, interprets O’Keeffe’s acclaimed modernist painting through an horological lens, with the door of her home in Abiquiú, New Mexico, here becoming the calendar aperture, and stepping stones acting as the indices.

It is an understated aesthetic carried through to the traditionally made, vegetable-tanned black leather strap, while the wild, rocky views O’Keeffe captured in her work are reflected in the hammered finish, which gives a rugged tactility to the slender profile of the case. The watch, the result of a partnership with the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico, comes as part of a chic gift set.

‘It is extremely important for us to honour the history, intentions, and expressions of those who we partner alongside,’ says Underwood. ‘At Shinola, we view collaborations as an opportunity to communicate a story from a perspective that may otherwise not have been considered. For us, the inspiration is in authentically sharing the story and asking ourselves, “How can we make a positive impact on the world?’’’ 

INFORMATION

shinola.com