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Jewellery Design

From 1955 on, Roberto Burle Marx would design over a thousand pieces of jewellery. The designs are realised by his brother Haroldo Raphael, a German- trained gemmologist. Burle Marx would usually draw the pieces at 1:1 scale, or enlarged, on black paper, using a combination of white coloured pencil and gouache to depict them as realistically as possible. He signs the drawings at the bottom. The designs are then executed as unique pieces. Many jewellers stick to traditional patterns and copy or simplify existing models. By contrast, Burle Marx begins to create new forms. He takes inspiration from abstract art, ancient Inca jewellery, and from unfamiliar Brazilian gemstones. In this work, too, there is the presence of the same revolutionary vision that guides his handling of Brazilian and tropical plants when landscaping. He creates jewellery designs with hitherto underappreciated Brazilian gemstones, such as amazonite, naturally smoothed quartz and tourmaline. As one of the international pioneers of modern jewellery, Burle Marx advocates for its recognition as a form of contemporary artistic expression: the art of jewellery is much more than an artistic craft making use of expensive materials. The high point of Burle Marx’s practice as a jewellery designer in the first half of the 1960s came in the form of several solo exhibitions and major awards.