Sylvain Rieu-Piquet flits between jewellery and design in a Carpenters Workshop Gallery show

‘It is quite important to see the pieces as a kind of protection for the wearer, perhaps a mix between an armour and also a physical expression of magical thinking, of “If I wear it, I become a little like it”,’ says Sylvain Rieu-Piquet, whose forthcoming exhibition, ‘Chimaera’ at Carpenters Workshop Gallery in London (opening 22 May 2025) will see the designer exhibit 40 pieces of jewellery and ceramics that articulate what he describes as a synthesis of language and form.

The exhibition name rightly suggests, with its inference of the mythical being in Greek mythology that is part lion, goat and serpent, that not only do Rieu-Piquet’s pieces possess an other-worldly quality, but also, they act as a wearable response to the idea of unrealistic ideas that are seemingly impossible to realise. ‘As an art student [at ENS Paris-Saclay], the memories I have were of feeling it was possible to think differently,’ he says. It is a belief evident in a jewellery practice that has experimentalism at its heart.

Rieu-Piquet’s interdisciplinary and visually omnivorous approach is also clear in his work. ‘I have done many different things, but there is a link, and for me it is drawing. I draw a lot. When I was very young, I was interested in anything that I found beautiful and I drew whatever it was. It could be an Italian baroque sculpture, a jewel, anything. I was not concerned with history or provenance, just the aesthetics. It was indiscriminate, totally natural. On the other hand, design is a method for me, a way to think.’

Success and accolades came early in his career: his reimagined Bic pens debuted at Design Parade Hyères and large-scale drawings were shown by Studio Liaigre in New York. However, he is now best known for his sculptures and jewellery, which allow him to explore the outer reaches of his imagination but through an approach rooted in design. ‘I began the jewellery after the ceramics, but for me the two are very close because the materials [clay and wax respectively] are soft and precise,’ he notes. He adds, ‘What I appreciate a lot from jewellery is the smaller scale. It is an opportunity to clarify style. So, you have to condense and be more considered with the choices made.’

Rieu-Piquet sees his jewellery practice and the ‘Chimaera’ series in particular as ‘a concentration of mineral, vegetal and animal’ and an opportunity to explore notions of fragility and vitality, elements that are present in the natural world and in people’s consciousness. They have the potential to be expressed in the one-of-a-kind pieces he creates. ‘The magic and tragedy of existence, the balance between strength and weakness’ are important, he notes.

Primarily in brass and bronze, and utilising silver and gold plating and patina, the collection features pieces that are set with sapphires, garnets and rubies. They vary in scale and oscillate between reflecting reality and subverting it. Of the rings in his series, Rieu-Piquet notes that they can just as easily be interpreted as a reptilian skin or a flower, and he is keen to note that the pieces are both absurd and imagined, allowing space for interpretation from the wearer. His methodologies also give his pieces a vintage quality: ‘The brass is a very cool material, as when I plate it and afterwards remove the plating, there is already the idea of lived experience in the finish,’ he says.

Although his work is increasingly collectable, Rieu-Piquet shies away from creating pieces that are ‘ego-driven artist-jewellery, with the bodies of others becoming a canvas for the artist’s work even if it is heavy or not comfortable’. Working from home allows him the time to spend with his three children and ‘to be in the right state, balanced in concentration and also relaxation’.

He adds: ‘When I am asked about my art, the question of family never appears, but for me it is a big thing.’ It's a neat riposte to an artist’s work being their sole raison d’être. And while Rieu-Piquet’s work is becoming an inevitable part of the jewellery canon, his is an insouciant approach to legacy. ‘It is complicated. In a few weeks I will have made another new piece and I will think the things of the week before are not at all important. Everything could be destroyed, perhaps it will be, and everything will eventually come to dust and it is not a problem.’

In ‘Chimaera’, Rieu-Piquet distils the fleeting truth of beauty, objects and life itself and how our perceptions and desires can be both illusory in thought and tangible in the wearing.

‘Chimaera’ is open from 22 May – 12 July 2025, carpentersworkshopgallery.com