If you’ve ever wondered if there is anything Virgil Abloh can’t do, we can assure you, you are not alone. The artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear collections is a true Renaissance man dipping his toes in everything from DJ-ing to architecture. For his latest creative project, Abloh teamed up with jeweler Jacob Arabo, founder of Jacob & Co, to collaborate on a line of jewels that not only impresses with their unique design but its exclusivity, too.
Dubbed the “Office Supplies” collection, Abloh and Arabo set out to reinvent the paperclip as an object of luxury by using it to create earrings, bracelets, and necklaces. Of course, these are not your ordinary chain paperclip necklaces you used to make in middle school. These ones are made from 18-karat yellow, white, or rose gold and set with white and yellow diamonds. The idea was to “rethink the ordinary” and transform an everyday item such as the paperclip into a contemporary piece of fine jewelry and, in that way, highlighting its significance.
“With jewelry design, not only is technical sophistication important, but also lineage. That’s the foundation for pieces with meaning,” said Abloh in a press release. “Jacob for me has always been innovative, particularly in the notions of merging design sophistication and the pop-culture emanating from the streets.”
Arabo who is famous for his dazzling timepieces admitted that working on this collection was not as easy as it may seem.
“I have been operating at the upper ends of the spectrum, reworking high complications in watches and changing the way jewelry was perceived. To use something ubiquitous like the paper clip and transform it into a beautiful object was a real challenge.”
But don’t expect to be able to just walk into a store and buy a pair of paperclip earrings. Each piece within the collection is made-to-order, with a six to eight-week waiting time but that’s only if your request gets personally approved by both Arabo and Abloh.
