Available now in-store.

The new line from Henson, now available online at For Tomorrow.

Brent Gold in his Sydney studio shows us his upcoming Paris collection. Henson will be showing at the Tranoi Homme tradeshow at Palais de la Bourse from June 29th 2013.

Enquiries: info@f-t.com.au

Photography by Blake Azar
Copyright content of For Tomorrow

After a particularly well-received launch last year, the Melbourne Metal Collective has decided to join forces once again for LMFF 2012.

Organised by jewelers, for jewelers, the MMC was launched in 2011 in order to create a support platform that would allow local talents to approach buyers and media as a force rather than solo.

Four designers from the original line up have remained: Henson, Young Hunting, Estelle Dévé and Hamish Munro. Added to this line up in 2012 are three new upcoming talents: O.T.T by Lia T, Alexandra Blak & Maripossa.

All seven designers have developed their very own strong identities, and are carried by leading boutiques in Australia and abroad. While their aesthetics are very different (some work with neon latex, others with Perspex, others with silver and gold) there is somehow a harmony of their personal aesthetics when observing their work as a collective.

We caught up with Andy from Henson Jewellery during his busy schedule in his New York apartment in the Bowery area as he travels on a world wide sales trip.

Jewellery isn’t disposable, it stays with you, on you or in your drawer, or with a friend or lover, forever. It is lost, found, worn again and passed around. Pieces of personal adornment remind people of chapters in their lives, they act as tokens to trigger memories of times, styles and desires present and past.

This year, Henson’s collection, Enta, embraces the concept of charms as chapters, telling the story of seven different characters, each profoundly powerful in different ways. Together, the seven can grant passage between our world and the world of the dead, but the heptad are not easily found, nor easily persuaded.

Henson’s collection is an exploration of the bribes and baubles these seven mystic figures have garnered as payment over the aeons.

Like a book, the story of these seven will unveil itself slowly. Every six weeks, Henson will reveal a new character, and along with them, their treasures.

The first in this series is the hunter, a young man whose stillness and solemnity belies his strength. The hunter is attracted to the takes of the chase, claiming prize catches like teeth, bones, leather and feathers from those who seek to pay him. His collection remains rough hewn, close to the state of nature from which he derives his sustenance, with sharpened flashes of bronze, copper and sterling silver. The hunter’s deep calm is represented with lapis, while his bloodlust spills through in sanguine garnets.

Each chapter in Henson’s series will open with a unique image – a photographic portrait of the chapter’s protagonist produced in collaboration with some of the label’s favourite artists.

This slow release project will ultimately culminate in an exhibition of the photographs produced, and the objects that inspired them. Later chapters will include Henson’s first foray into fine jewellery, utilising both gold and precious stones.

Henson’s narrative allows the designers to explore every facet of their label’s aesthetic, while at the same time maintaining a continuity of form.

For product enquiries: info@f-t.com.au

To coincide with the upcomming new delivery of Henson pieces from the second iteration of the Cælestis collection, here are some new exclusive imagery.

The Melbourne Metal Collective is an alliance between five of the strongest emerging jewellers in Melbourne. It features two For-Tomorrow jewellers Henson and Young Hunting.

The collective have come together to showcase their work in a supportive, group-run environment during L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival. Current collections will be displayed alongside one-off pieces created specifically for the event. This physical installation will be supported digitally through an online hub that will include film, collection galleries, designer profiles and an e-commerce platform that allows for interstate and international sales of the work on display.

For their debut event, The Melbourne Metal Collective have chosen to create pieces, and accompanying media works, around a central theme of alchemy. This week sees the online premiere of a film by the same title, by acclaimed South African director Michael Matthews, which presents key pieces from each of the featured designers.

This film will also be shown as part of the exhibition’s opening night celebrations. The art of alchemy, which originated in Ancient Greece, is the mystical manipulation and transmogrification of metals and other elements.

This choice of theme is particularly timely, given the renewed interest in utilising natural materials like raw crystals and human hair in jewellery design. Alchemy was selected not just for its on-trend status, but also because the concept reflects the deeply personal, almost spiritual connection both makers and wearers have to their jewellery.

_ Cælestis
from L. “heavenly, pertaining to the sky,

With notions of infinite galaxies and heavenly plains, the breakout label’s new range, ‘Cælestis’, takes inspiration from a primordial, intangible mother of being.

Concerned primarily with the manipulation of metals, Henson has ceased to be a jewellery label and has transformed into an alchemist of sorts- mixing minerals silver and brass with irreverent unorthodoxy and bringing light to dark places. Indeed, the label has grown from its broody beginnings and is illuminating sinister edges to offer greater accessibility to its already bloated fan base. But don’t be easily fooled- the shadowy corners still remain for die-hard Henson devotees.

From the ‘Big Dog’ constellation necklace- modelled on the actual constellation as it can be seen from the Southern Hemisphere at night- to sun dials in the form of cuffs, rings and necklaces, Henson tracks the movement of celestial objects as they pass, largely unseen, in and around us. Moon face rings mimic a sleeping planet while crystal rock pendants whisper ancient secrets and silver cuffs turn to gold as the light hits them.