Samuel Coraux offers unique and resolutely contemporary jewellery. By playing with colour and light, it offers clean lines of offbeat, sculptural and graphic elegance. The three axes of Samuel Coraux's work are movement, colour and volume. It is about making the piece an object in its own right, with a strong visual identity. For Samuel Coraux, jewellery is not neutral, it is an extension of oneself, a hidden part that we want to highlight.
Samuel's work is to be found in discerning shops around the world, including the shops at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in the Louvre, the Center Georges Pompidou and the Musee d'Art Moderne de Paris and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.
OOMA is the biggest Samuel Coraux stockist in New Zealand and we carry an extensive range of his collection. While some colours and options may be out of stock we are able to do special orders for anything you require, including unique colour combinations on most pieces. Please contact us for your own enquiries on any Samuel Coraux piece.
CREATOR’S NOTE
End and Beginning
I became a jewellery designer by chance, in French we say “by accident” which is actually true! For a long time I worked in cinema, TV, documentary…
Then, one quiet day on a Normandy road, under the midday sun, my life changed forever.I lost control of my old convertible car which rolled over. I saw the sky, the brightness of the sun, the green fields, the midnight blue of the asphalt - all those fantastic colours merged into one and time ceased to exist. Then everything stopped, the car was smoking and I was still alive!
Sometimes you need to stop the clock so you can start doing what you really want…
What’s on Hand…
I never thought I’d make jewellery. I wanted to become a writer and tell stories, but I was too shy, and didn’t have enough self-confidence.
After my car accident, I couldn’t move for 6 months, a long time! There was a box with beads, so I started making necklaces. I was taking medication, strong enough, against the pain. I couldn’t think too much, but my hands had their own autonomy, and they choose the beads, found combinations, and the necklaces arrived one after the other.
I didn’t think I was able to do things with my hands, but, not a long time ago, I remembered. My grandfather was a stonemason, and when I was child, he showed me his tools, how to use them, and he let me play.
I was quite incredulous to see my friends get excited about my first designs in jewellery. A self-taught person often feels a little illegitimate but a year later, my jewellery was on the poster of one of the most important fashion shows in Paris. Very quickly I realised that creating jewellery was my way of expressing myself, of telling stories.
Dance with the World
My first shock was Japan where I lived, Tokyo and Kyoto, and I learnt a lot. The discovery of Japanese culture was foundational for me and inspired me a lot, especially calligraphy, this work of gesture which is now at the centre of my creations.
I was student in the city of Murcia, region Murcia. Between the sea and the mountain, desert areas, expanses of peppers, lemon and orange orchards, cradle of flamenco, and during the Holy week, baroque Virgins with tears of blood took to the street, and in the evening, we would go drinking and dancing in the crowded little street. Such a beautiful light, and such beautiful nights.
I also spent one year in London in my twenties. A crazy time for a provincial frog! The UK, country of quirky characters, Sherlock Holmes, Lady Di, David Bowie, music with the volume on full blast, a society made up with social classes, pub, punks and Vivienne Westwood. One day, an English friend said that “my work is about controlled eccentricity”. Maybe that’s the French touch...
DNA Puzzle
Now everyone asks you “what is your brand’s DNA ?” I don’t have a clue. I would say like T.S. Eliot says “do not ask “what is it?” Let us go and make our visit.” Creation has no limits, no frame, and I use all my previous experiences, and the passion I have for Art and Architecture. For me, jewellery has to be dynamic, attractive, and surprising, but at the same time simple and not aggressive. The important thing when I’m creating, is to find the right balance but the most important thing is the pleasure you get when you’re creating. Creation is a mix of energy, and my work is to give a piece of this energy. It’s not just a necklace, a bracelet, a ring but a little 'somewhere', like a painting on a wall, like a flower on a balcony, like an emotion on a face.
Jewellery Designer: Militant Act?
For me, jewels are not only decorative. They are companions for the woman who wear them: standards, servants, symbols, accomplices, armour, ambassadors, protectors, warriors….
The jewellery I create must be able to be all of this for the woman who wears it. A jewel is something you put outside to express something you have inside. It’s a vision of the world, an Art inspiration through an everyday object, but very symbolic. A piece of jewellery, these are colours that splash, volumes that deconstruct your carnal structure, it could be an indirect gaze that you send to someone, an esoteric and protective adornment. Or just something that makes you happy.
In the Heart of the Marais
My workshop is located in Le Marais in Paris, historically the district of jewellers, and people from all over the world are visiting this area. It’s very important for me to be in touch with people. The interaction with customers in the creative process is a part of my work.
To sum up, there are 3 types of helpful customers:
- The Anna Wintour Lady, she knows everything in jewelry since Chanel, she is very precious because she will show me what she has never seen.
- The Xanax Lady, you’re down, bad day, and she loves everything and make you feel a genius.
- The persnickety Lady, she likes this necklace, but maybe we should add something, change a colour, make it shorter... and she improves your necklace that becomes a bestseller.
My workshop is a laboratory, it is a place but also a team, like a polyphonic choir, a Renaissance workshop. A workspace, between rigour and chaos, harmony and fracture, contradiction and common objective, a world in itself that sucks the universes around us to crystallise them into intimate objects.
