A GOLD PIN BROOCH, BY LALAOUNIS

In the classical Greek tradition of a stylised torc with lion's head terminal and closed pin clasp, mounted in 18K gold, signed Lalaounis, maker's mark, French...

A GOLD PIN BROOCH, BY LALAOUNIS

In the classical Greek tradition of a stylised torc with lion's head terminal and closed pin clasp, mounted in 18K gold, signed Lalaounis, maker's mark, French import mark, length 8.7cm

 

Greek jeweller Ilias Lalalounis was born in Athens in 1920, the fourth generation of a family of goldsmiths and watchmakers from Delphi. After studying economics and law at the University of Athens, he joined his uncles jewellery firm, where, apprenticed as a goldsmith, he learned the skills that were to determine his future as a master craftsman.

Prompted by a passion for history, he began studying the art of his ancestors. In the 1950s he was inspired by Greek museum artefacts and transformed them into jewellery by reviving age-old techniques while also introducing the use of modern technology. His creative aim was to convey the spiritual and symbolic link of an object to its historical past, the art of neglected techniques, such as granulation, filigree, hand-weaving and hand-hammering.

 

Lalaounis founded the Greek Jewellers Association and exhibited his first collection in 1957, the archeological collection, inspired by Classical, Hellenistic and Minoan-Mycenaean art, with modern jewels steeped in antiquity. In the 1960s, after his uncle passed away, Ilias Lalaounis started his own company. His collections, consisting of 18 and 22 karat gold pieces, were inspired by the art of many different cultures and periods. His interest spanned from prehistoric to Minoan art, from Persian to Byzantine, from Chinese art to the art of the Tudors. In the 70s, Lalaounis provoked a sensation with his collection BLOW UP, draping the human body in gold jewellery. He followed this by redefining new means of expression, inspired by spheres such as nature and science, flowers and biosymbols, the random movements of animal and plant cells, orbits and constellations

 

In 1986 Lalaounis became the first jeweller to be honoured with the prestigious induction to the Academie des Beaux Arts et des Lettres of Paris.

 

View more View less