Buttons go as far back as the time neolithic man first wrapped an animal fur around himself and thought it would look better fastened.
Since then buttons have had a fascinating history and an important place in human adornment.
Renee in her studio
BUT IN OUR modern world of zips, snap fasteners and Velcro, buttons have taken a back seat. However, jeweller Renee Blackwell has re-discovered the button by creating attractive rings, pendants and earrings from a bewildering array of buttons from all over the world.
Renee has been designing and making jewellery for over 25 years, using a wide variety of materials in her work such as stones, gems, glass, clay/porcelain, metals and found objects.
Then she discovered the fascinating world of buttons
“On a trip to Buenos Aires a few years ago,” says Renee, “I discovered in an antique market a stash of beautiful, old buttons, and I felt they were so exquisite I might be able to use them in my work. Since that trip, I have been to Paris, Germany, New York City and San Francisco all in search of antique and vintage buttons. The metal antique buttons are all late 1800s and the vintage buttons are from the post WW2 era – the late 1940s. These buttons are mainly French, German and Czechoslovakian and made of glass.”
Renee is constantly in search of vintage buttons from the 1940s which she tries to buy on the original card.
In Paris, Renee discovers a box of "new" vintage 1940s French glass buttons. These buttons have never been off their original button card.
In Paris recently, Renee discovered an antique button dealer’s shop where she spent the entire day looking at, and buying buttons. The woman who owns the shop and her husband bought the business from his parents, who were button and trim suppliers to the world of Paris fashion designers in the 1930s-1960s.
“I set all the buttons as rings, earrings and pendants usually in sterling silver,” says Renee. “ For me, the button jewellery is so much more than “just another ring or pair of earrings,” she adds. “They become a piece of jewellery with a rich history – the ultimate reuse of objects made in another time and era.”
Renee Blackwell’s jewellery is stocked in about 85 jewellery stores and galleries right around Australia. Renee’s website: reneeblackwelldesign.com
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