DIAMOND STUDDED: To mark 20 years since British jeweler Hannah Martin launched her studio and brand, a book titled “Hannah Martin: Iconoclast” is coming out Thursday.
Written by Paris-based journalist Tina Isaac-Goizé and prefaced by jewelry historian Vivienne Becker, the 240-page volume retraces a path that began a quarter of a century ago when Martin arrived in London.
The “wide-eyed newcomer” who enrolled at Central Saint Martins soon found her calling on the jeweler’s bench, where she “found her groove in goldsmithing; sharpened her instincts with stone-setting” as the book chronicles.
While in her second year, Martin received the Cartier Award and headed to Paris for an apprenticeship in the French jewelry house’s high jewelry studio. The experience cemented her path as a jeweler but also the need to stay off the beaten track.
The cover of the book.
Joss McKinley/Courtesy of ACC Art Books
At the heart of her approach is the idea that “jewelry should not merely be worn. It should be felt,” said the jeweler, who launched her brand in 2006.
Unfurling through the book is a radical approach that holds gender irrelevant, sensuality and even sexuality paramount, and music essential. The narration is peppered with bon mots, such as Martin’s firm believe that “if you’re going to plunder the earth for its stones and precious metals, you had better have something interesting to say.”
Such an unapologetic stance has found resonance with musicians and fellow designers such as Rihanna, Madonna, Morrissey, Keith Richards and Olivier Rousteing, who all wear Martin’s designs. It also saw the likes of Louis Vuitton, Chaumet and Tabayer, as well as brands such as Hussein Chalayan, Phoebe Philo and Martine Rose, call on her for commissions.
She collaborated with Libertines frontman Pete Doherty in 2010 and currently ongoing, with Guy Berryman, the Coldplay bassist who is also the cofounder of Amsterdam-based label Applied Art Forms.
The book includes nearly 350 photographs, sketches and illustrations that include finished pieces, those who wear Martin’s designs but also show the jeweler at various stages of her creative process.
Published by ACC Art Books, the book will be available in the U.K. for 45 pounds. It will be released in the U.S. on Oct. 28, priced at $60.