'The connection I have with pearls keeps changing,' Melanie Georgacopoulos shares as she prepares to launch Eclipse, her first high jewellery collection. Georgacopoulos’ name has become synonymous with the renaissance of pearl jewellery, reimagining a gemstone that had previously been viewed as a dated proposition, usually inherited as a family heirloom, into modern creations that upend notions of what is not only possible with pearls, but also enduringly appealing.
Georgacopoulos was born and raised in Greece to a Greek father and French mother, where frequent trips to ancient archaeological sites and monuments were balanced by holidays in France where she first encountered the works of Les Lalanne and Lalique. 'In hindsight I would say the best thing about my childhood was that I was exposed to many things.'
This eclectic visual diet, coupled with teenage experimentation in making her own jewellery, led her to hone her creativity. Firstly, at the Mokume School of Jewellery in Athens, followed by a degree in sculpture from the Edinburgh College of Art, pursued because she felt 'frustrated by just making small things all the time [so] I broadened my horizons with knowledge', and onwards to a masters in jewellery design at the Royal College of Art, where her graduate show birthed her first of many iconic designs using pearls, the Sliced Necklace.
'I think at the beginning I was very intrigued [by pearls]. It was an opaque material, and you don’t know what is in it. And the first response to that, with my sculpture background, was to just take one and cut it and see what is inside…the moment I cut one up, I thought how much can I push this idea of cutting them and turning them into something wearable.' The Sliced collection was the beginning of her lauded collaboration with Japanese heritage house Tasaki.
In the interim years since founding her own maison in 2010, Georgacopoulos has drawn upon her vast knowledge of pearls, coupled with a desire to not only surprise herself but also her clients. 'I try to work as intuitively as possible… my focus is not on the value of the materials. I don’t start by saying this is ‘x amounts of carats of pearls or diamonds’, I go more for the aesthetic of the pearl and the size I need for the design.'
In creating Eclipse, Georgacopoulos commenced with a thesis based on both social and cultural observations and a desire to design a collection that gave her the opportunity to incorporate hard stones in her creations; principally Onyx and Chalcedony as well as diamonds. As the collection’s name implies, Eclipse is both monochromatic in hue and also informed by movement and transformation, much like the celestial phenomenon itself.
'I feel like we are either black or white and the grey zone is diminishing politically and socially,' Georgacopoulos notes. This observation finds itself in necklaces and bracelets where pearls are held in custom-carved loops of onyx, resulting in a ‘chain’ effect and offering an invitation to experience both a chain-link jewellery piece like no other and to ponder on the strength and beauty found in unity rather than division. A single cast silver cuff, plated with black ruthenium with pearls applied between the metal, is another piece with meta-meanings. A substantive statement, possessing a gentle echo to antiquity, where jewellery worn as armour was readily embraced. Georgacopoulos remarks the cuff 'is something a warrior would wear' or in a modern setting, someone wanting to imbue their adornment with a readying of their inner strength for the day ahead.
Eclipse marks an evolution, that while still centring pearls seeks to present different expressions of their possibilities in a jewellery setting. 'Somehow over the years, my work has become more autobiographical,' Georgacopoulos reflects. Yet in her candor she has attracted a cadre of admirers and collectors drawn to collections that embrace multiple themes, expand conversations on materiality and are a harmonious balance of the conceptual and covetable.