Danish Jewelry Designer Vibe Harsløf’s Riffs on the Omnipresent EarPod Are Something to Shout About

Laird Borrelli-Persson

August 23, 2019 at 12:18 PM

Danish Jewelry Designer Vibe Harsløf’s Riffs on the Omnipresent EarPod are Something to Shout About

<h1 class="title">Vibe Harsløf WE Collection Fall 2019</h1><cite class="credit">Photo: Alexandre Hertoghe; AD, Kristian Kirk / Courtesy of Vibe Harsløf</cite> — Vibe Harsløf WE Collection Fall 2019
Photo: Alexandre Hertoghe; AD, Kristian Kirk / Courtesy of Vibe Harsløf

<h1 class="title">Vibe Harsløf WE Collection Fall 2019</h1><cite class="credit">Photo: Kasper Buchardt Thye / Courtesy of Vibe Harsløf</cite> — Vibe Harsløf WE Collection Fall 2019
Photo: Kasper Buchardt Thye / Courtesy of Vibe Harsløf

Vibe Harsløf is a Danish jewelry designer whose antennae are especially sensitive to vibrations coming from underground subcultures. In fact, it was seeing a show of student work that focused on a DIY/salvaging approach that set this Dane on her chosen career path. Scan the designer’s Instagram page, and it’s immediately clear that subtlety is not what she’s after. Harsløf is known for combining a punk aesthetic with a clean, Scandinavian minimalism, plus a sense humor. Take her most recent crowd-pleasers: EarPod-inspired pieces, made of gilded sterling silver and freshwater pearls.

While she’s quite independent—“after finishing my apprenticeship, I promised myself never to have a boss again,” she says—this Dane is open to collaborations and has worked with local talents like Soulland and Anne Sofie Madsen. For Spring and Fall 2019 she worked with the cult label Facetasm. “For both [seasons] I used the earphones as an element in large showpieces [for Facetasm], so it felt quite obvious to make a separate collection for my own line using them as the main component,” Harsløf tells Vogue. “Besides being present everywhere and on everyone literally, [EarPods] are also beautiful as objects. I have kept [to the original design] in some pieces, whereas other pieces are taken to new places with the addition of pearls or chains pouring out as music or cords.”

The collection, priced from €120 to €350 (about $133 to $388), was conceived for Harsløf’s unisex WE line. Her main line is designed for women but is also sometimes worn by men, which jibes with the new freedom the designer is witnessing in the jewelry market. “When I started,” she observes, “the market was very conventional, with very divided scenes—the bijouterie scene, the fine jewelry scene, the art jewelry scene—and the perception of jewelry was very conservative. That is completely different now, anything is accepted, and the borders are completely blurred, which I find very inspiring.” Hear, hear.