A Bridge Made of Jewellery: Maison 203 Between Venice and Birmingham
This summer, a new independent jewellery brand has arrived at Artisan Alchemy Gallery! For the first time, it hails not from the UK, but directly from Venice: Maison 203. Michele White, the gallery’s owner and resident jewellery artist, has personally selected six of their stunning collections. Among them is Memento, Maison 203’s signature line, which embodies the brand’s core concept: transforming intangible ideas and emotions into wearable art through 3D printing.
Our gallery assistant, Ilenia Favaretto, who splits her time between Venice and Birmingham, visited Maison 203’s store in Rialto, just steps from the iconic bridge. There, she explored the opportunity to bring their innovative, Venetian-made 3D-printed jewellery to Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter. In this blog post, she shares Maison 203’s story and introduces the brand’s arrival at Artisan Alchemy Gallery, where it is now available both in store and online.
Maison 203’s signature Memento necklace in the special iridescent Nebula version.
Birmingham and Venice are often compared for their number of canals, but what else might connect these two very different cities? With over 50 designer-makers based in the Jewellery Quarter, including renowned figures like Michele White herself, Birmingham stands as a significant centre of excellence in the jewellery sector, recently honoured with the prestigious designation of World Craft City! Venice is also home to numerous historical ateliers – the so-called botteghe – which continue to preserve centuries-old artisanal techniques in goldsmithing and glassblowing. One of the most famous products of Venetian traditional jewellery is the murrine, colourful glass beads crafted on Murano Island. However, in the last two decades, cultural initiatives like the Venice Design Week have been promoting the reinterpretation of traditional jewellery-making through new, cutting-edge techniques.
In 2011, former homeware designer Orlando Fernández Flores and graphic designer Lucia De Conti created Maison 203, a pioneering jewellery brand that merges artisanal techniques with digital technology using 3D printing. This innovative approach has brought a fresh, modern twist to Venice's rich jewellery heritage, and I was keen to learn more about it. Maison 203 is a brand of encounter – what Orlando and Lucia call “creative cross-pollination”. Their jewellery not only showcases the influences of their diverse backgrounds, with highly graphic, decorative designs, but is also the results of multiple and always new collaborations. Each of Maison 203’s collections, in fact, is born from the ideas of various designers, whether Venetians or internationals, established professionals or students at the local university. What they have in common is the desire to explore the infinite solutions that can stem from disciplinary integration, when strict labels are abandoned and architecture, science, IT, visual arts and design can integrate.
Whether voluminous or minimal, nature-inspired or geometrical, Maison 203’s pieces are designed to sit lightly on and interact harmoniously with the body. The Elle collection – now available in the gallery – is a perfect visual example of this concept. Orlando showed me how Elle spiral rings can be combined with each other, resulting in two interwoven spirals of different colours that twist around the finger. But how are these flexible, lightweight jewels made? After the design has been digitally devised, the various parts composing the piece need to be printed separately and only then assembled by hand. But before this, they are also manually sandblasted, dyed and painted. In this intersection between craftmanship and digital technology lies the peculiarity of the brand.
Two Elle rings combined.
Furthermore, each jewellery piece comes in multiple vibrant tones, ranging from flamingo pink to electric yellow and navy blue, which instantly reminded me of the colourful Murano glass. Some also have a distinctly marine feel, such as the fish-shaped Fritto Misto brooches or the coral-like Elle earrings, which evoke memories of my homeland lagoon. So, there is, in Maison 203’s jewellery, a clear visual connection to Venice. It is the Venetian heritage being elaborated and reinterpreted through new techniques, materials and forms. Their signature collection Memento itself aims to be – as the Latin word suggests – a memory made form. With its round, soft and flexible shapes, it materialises the comforting feeling of an indefinite childhood memory.
The Triglia brooch from the Fritto Misto collection (literally, "Mixed Fried”)and the Elle earrings.
Having Maison 203’s innovative jewellery at Artisan Alchemy Gallery is a way of creating a bridge between two canal cities to celebrate the cultural diversity of our staff and the positive influences that this can bring. It allows us and our visitors to explore how two cities that are often mentioned side by side made of jewellery design an important sector for innovation in the arts, while leveraging on their rich artisanal history and traditions.
By Ilenia Favaretto