The Style Families of Manik’s Necklaces
At Manik, we create artisan jewellery, beaded necklaces of gemstones and other vintage and collectable beads. These are all OOAK jewellery (one of a kind jewellery), for I do not duplicate or replicate our compositions. I am very focused on the design, and each necklace is intentioned, not improvised, and always edited before it is finally built. I have tended to stay in my ‘natural’ mode however, while creating, working with certain unspoken, sub-conscious principles of jewellery making that I had intuited for myself over time. It is only more recently that I have explored the ‘naming’ of my practices, reading up on jewellery design, and was both thrilled and excited to find a more formal way of expressing what I have been doing all along. My ‘theory’ is finally catching up with my practice! Linked to my ability to now ‘name’ my practices and principles, I explored a soft taxonomy for Manik’s necklaces, a means for categorising our artisan jewellery. I would not want to over- intellectualise as I work, but having a language, and a soft taxonomy can be helpful for self-reflection and review, as well as for our visitors like you to understand our work better
A Soft Taxonomy of Manik’s Necklaces
Going through our Manik designs, I could see five ‘style families’, although I would emphasise that these ‘families’ may overlap, and are not definitive categorisation for our necklaces. Currently our four collections (Configurations, Hues, Materiality and States) on our website are based on the names of the necklaces, and this is still relevant and preferred for our website, as it encourages our visitors to roam and browse without being too conscious of ‘categories’. The style families however offer an extra layer for more in-depth understanding of our OOAK jewellery.
Contemporary Sculptural
A number of necklaces currently in our Manik shop would fall into this style family. Chill, first left in the photo, is one such. Others that you can see in our Manik shop that would fall into this ‘family’ are Blush (sold), Cerulean (sold), Crystal Clear, Cubes and Orbs, Luminous (sold), Painterly, Reunion, Sangfroid (sold), Symmetry (sold) and Topography. They are characterised by a clean visual flow and measured rhythm; bead scale, spacing and line express visual architecture and balance
Refined Classics
Refined classics are the more timeless, poised pieces with balanced gemstone compositions that are enduring and versatile rather than directional. Our OOAK jewellery of refined classics are usually symmetrical and more quietly elegant in a conventional manner with a colour palette that may be monochromatic or features tonal gradience. Necklaces in our shop currently that belongs to this family include Earthbound, Pearly Garden, Renewal (2nd from left of photo), Sakura (newly in), Simplicity (sold), and Through Thick and & Thin (two necklaces, both sold).
Bold Expression
In this family, stronger colours, contrast, and personality come to the fore, and the necklaces are driven by visual impact and presence. Stones tend to be larger, there is chromatic contrast, stronger visual weight, distinct personality, and expressive composition. The Bold Expressions in our shop are Aquarelle (3rd from left of photo), Asymmetry (sold), Audacious in Pink, Contrast, Harlequin, Ten Stones (sold), Trellis (sold), and Topography. Razzling Red which was in our Christmas Colours collection, but taken down for now, was a strong example of this family, with its vibrant and dramatic reds and curated big beads of different materials from different eras!
Heritage-inspired
In this category, I place necklaces that reflect traditional/heritage beads or bead traditions, and designs that echo historical or cultural significance. Currently, we have only two such necklaces in our shop, one of which is Blessings, with many of its beads and the pendant tied to symbolic themes. I also consider Intricate with all the intricate silver beadwork to be part of this family, not withstanding the use of other modern gemstone beads of amazonite and lapis. We do have other heritage-inspired necklaces in stock, though not in our shop yet. Nine-eyed for example (4th from left of photo), features onyx, turquoise and as its focal point, a pair of nine-eyed Dzi beads.
Curated Casuals
These are more relaxed, everyday wearable compositions built from selected often mixed materials, with lightness of mood, but disciplined editing. Curated casuals in our shop at present are Cheongsam, Happy (sold), Stars Galore (5th from left of photo, featuring ‘80s chevron beads), UFOs and Vivid. Cheongsam is somewhat nostalgia-tinged, reminding me of ‘60s Hong Kong, with a range of vintage beads from red cerise drops to white ceramic beads with flowers and leaves to green glass crystals and melons, while Happy combines ‘80s stripey chevron beads (aka as star or rosetta beads) acquired in Sarawak with other vintage glass beads in turquoise blue and cobalt, as well as vintage Italian metallised plastic silver beads.
A Soft, Not Hard Taxonomy
I am happy with this taxonomy of our artisan jewellery and I hope it helps you, our visitors to this website, to understand the nature of our compositions, in better depth. To go back to a point I made earlier on however, the lines among among the style families can be fuzzy at times, and while some necklaces are ‘true’ members of one family or another, others may have traits that can be seemingly ambiguous leading one to think that they could also belong to another family! Thus, Crystal Clear which I have mentioned as being a contemporary sculptural feels like it could be a bold expression given its boldness in the forms of the beads, but ultimately, this is sculptural boldness whereas the boldness of the bold expression family is more colour-driven. I was initially hesitant when it came to classifying Earthbound with its brecciated jasper and tiger’s eye, and wondered if it could count as a contemporary sculptural but in the end decided that it is a refined classic! So the borders can sometimes be blurred, and I think these necklaces are the more interesting for the ambiguity!
It is also possible that you may disagree with some of my choices for the different style families, and may consider that some of the necklaces belong to other families instead! That is perfectly fine and would make for an interesting conversation! The photographs of all the necklaces mentioned here are in the Shop