Exhibition Spotlights Ana Khouri’s Cool, Structural Jewelry
Ana Khouri’s creations are an awe-inspiring amalgam of modern sculpture and fine jewelry, and now the Brazilian-born designer’s talents are the subject of “Jewels Now – Ana Khouri,” a solo exhibition expressly dedicated to her work. It opens at Phillips on Park Avenue September 14 and runs through the 16th. It will highlight 51 designs, 10 of which are totally new and made exclusively for Phillips. The designs in this exhibition range in price from $10,000 to $2 million.
Before getting her degree at the GIA, Khouri studied sculpture in São Paulo at the Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado and launched her brand in New York in 2013.
“Since founding her company, she has changed the way people interact with and wear their jewelry,” noted Susan Abeles, Phillips’ Head of Jewels in the Americas. “Her gem canvases are feminine, unique, and engaging for those women who share her non-conventional ideology and embrace her artistic vision.”
Khouri’s approach to every design—from hoops and chandelier earrings to cocktail rings—is refreshingly fearless. She embraces color, asymmetry and open space in a way that gives gems like pink diamonds, Paraiba tourmalines, tanzanite and emeralds a new stage on which to shine. Grandly geometric but still softly organic, alternately bold and restrained, Ana Khouri’s jewelry can be fully appreciated when it is observed on a person, that is when each piece’s well-thought relationship to the human form is made clear. Among her signature pieces are rings that appear like fine brushstrokes and earrings that hug the less expected curves of the ear.
“My designs are about the body’s connection to the jewelry,” says Khouri. “I am interested in the form, the essential, the lines, the relationship and connection of the piece and the body form. Gems are part of the process, but I do not believe a piece has to be thought outside the human body experience based on a gem, because the ultimate experience is wearing it, not showcasing.”
“I want visitors to feel something visceral as they peruse the exhibition,” Khouri explains. “I want to give them an experience. I hope that everyone who comes will leave with their own internal reflection, and, ultimately a more intimate and personal connection with the pieces. The feeling I want to impart is one of radiance, in every sense; that of light, of emotion, of energy, and of course, that of beauty.”
This exhibition is the second in an ongoing series from the auction house aimed at spotlighting contemporary designers. The first of the series, “Jewels Now – Lauren Adriana,” took place earlier this year.
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