The Nine Collection

The Nine Collection offers a new experimental perspective on traditional craftsmanship. The pieces are delicate, but at the same time suitable for everyday wear. Although Lindsey’s collections range from feminine to bold and from bold to organic, you can easily recognize her personal style because she has a playful and fluid approach that are both modern and experimental. 

Her work is a tribute to nature, where wildness and control exist side by side. You can recognize this by the beautiful materials and the organic and rough forms.

Whilst appreciating all aspects of nature, Lindsey also wants to care for the earth, just like it cares for us. Therefor, Lindsey approaches the craft in a way that has the least negative impact on the earth. “The creation of my collections is driven by a desire to work as sustainable as possible” Lindsey says. “For instance by reusing materials, such as old scraps of gold, whenever possible. One of the special qualities of gold and silver is the fact that these metals can be melted over and over again, each time turning into something new.”

Another example of her sustainable way of working is the focus on slow fashion; her jewelry can function as a sign carried on your body and can signal a part of you in public space. Wearing a ring, necklace or a set of earrings can be a way of making a statement, but these intimate artifacts can also remind you of a person or an important moment in life. They travel with you through all your lived experiences.

The Nine Collection grew from such observations. “As a designer it’s important to create circumstances in which the relationship between you and your jewelry can grow. That is why I put a lot of effort into making sure that each individual piece is unique by letting the unpredictability of the craft dictate the final form.

With all these important themes in mind, Lindsey created The Nine Collection, breaking the rules of the traditional jewelers craft by embracing unpredictability and uniqueness.


+|- Collection

The question of origin in an object is an interesting one, and therefore poses the question of why we remove and appropriate objects from their original context? The environment, and the origins of materials has an incredibly powerful value to the way in which we create and wear jewelry. The +|- collection, originally a graduation collection, takes traditional jewelry as a starting point, and through the experimentation of voltages, is able to record time. Slowly, Lindsey was able to manipulate the way in which the copper grew in the baths, to create unique and unrecreatable pieces. Some of the traditions in jewelry making have been lost through mass production, the internet and a lack of emotion towards our possessions. For example, a signet ring, once a symbol of your family identity and heritage, can now be easily purchased online or at any jewelry store. By using this method and increasing the loss, it signifies our own loss of ownership of the jewelry that we wear and allows us to take back the identity of the pieces that we adorn ourselves with. From this the title, +|- was born, and it refers to the taking and giving of material, both in a literal and a sentimental context.

From this research a beautiful earring collection was born. Sixteen Earrings in silver and gold plated, made to mix and combine in different ways.

 

 

GEMS Collection

The GEMS collection was born out of her love for nature, and all of the shapes and creations which are created within this realm. What Lindsey found particularly interesting, was the idea that gemstones all have different properties. Every gemstone is different, and can give you a different feeling when you wear or hold them. Within each gem, they hold different light or have a different colour or shape; no two are the same. The stones change and grow while you wear them. Lindsey has collected stones all of her life and each one has captured something different within her, which makes this collection so personal. 

Sardinia. Over the last three years, this collection has been at the forefront of Lindsey her imagination. She began slowly collecting stones with this in mind. She was thinking of the natural shapes in which we find the stones, and our ability to polish and reshape them to our own desires. 

In 2016, Lindsey visited a museum in Sardinia, where there was a huge treasure hunt of beads, charms and rings that were found in the earth of Sardinia dating back to the Bronze Age. She was totally fascinated with ancient jewelry, the way the edges are not perfectly polished, and you can almost feel the history within every piece. It is something that has always been incredibly attractive to her. 

She melt the silver and gold from old pieces of jewelry, cutlery and add silver sticks and use these recycled materials to create a new plate. 

 

FUCK IT Collection

The FUCK IT collection was born out of my graduation. I was overwhelmed by all of the rules that you are supposed to follow when making jewelry. This got me thinking; Aren’t rules made to be broken? In breaking the rules, would this allow me to take my jewelry from the ordinary, and into the exceptional. 

This collection also aimed to highlight the ways in which many traditional rules and traditions in jewelry making are becoming lost in a mass produced society, and therefore, so is the jewelry’s reason for existence. From this thought process, the collection emerged. It began with a solid silver ring and from there, it expanded into FUCK IT. The original solid silver ring, expanded into a hollowed out gold ring, that makes a statement all by itself. The earrings, with their shiny stones, are an elegant and bold message to the rest of the world. The FUCK IT bracelet and necklace are completely handmade, and made out of recycled silver, which is melted into a plate. This plate is then milled and cut into small strokes of 0.5mm thickness. From these strokes, the links are made and soldered one by one. The links are wide and open, so the bracelet is worn boldly on your wrist.

 

 

Sophi Lou X Lindsey Fontijn

Collaboration

Sophi Lou stands for minimal waste.The production process is driven by a dedication to a minimum waste approach: all their products are designed that they leave a minimal amount of waste after completion. A good example is the t-shirt, while the average t-shirt has a waste percentage of 15-17%, our No.001 t-shirt only leaves 3% of waste.

The jewelry collection is a collaboration where we have developed unique products that are made by order and have a chic yet robust appearance that perfectly compliments all the items Sophi Lou represents. All the jewelry is made from recycled silver.

www.sophilou.com