Entomythology

London jewellery designer Philipa Holland has teamed up with artist and male model Jamie Strachan to create a line of men’s jewellery. Entitled ‘Entomythology’, the range is inspired by the delicate skeletal innards of small winged creatures and the hard exo-skeletons of scuttling creepy-crawlies. Featuring motifs of sinisterly hollow beaked skulls, grasping bird’s claws, large beetles and slithering snake vertebra, the collection has a dark morbidity that celebrates the fragile beauty of the little things we so often deem ugly or threatening.
 
The pendants, bracelets and rings are cast in silver from the vertebra of snakes, the skulls of ravens, the husks of beetles and the claws of magpies. While some pieces in the Entomythology range are enameled, others are hand engraved with intricate illustrations of beetles and valkyries, or with poignant quotes from famous musicians or poets. Each piece also features as clasp made from the Buddhist ‘vajra’, a Sanskrit emblem representing a thunderbolt or a diamond, and interestingly the male sexual organ. The indestructible vajra is responsible for destroying ignorance in all its forms, as Entomythology seeks to overturn established paradigms of beauty and desirability.