Jewellery art couturiers – Sara Engberg & Christina Wemming

Stockholm-based fashion designer Christina Wemming and jewellery artist Sara Engberg together constitute Mori & Mimosa, a designer duo who put their minds into every step of the design process, from choosing material to the final touch. They believe that clothing and jewellery have an equal status - each complementing the other.

Sara Engberg

Mori & Mimosa has been an emerging designer label among Stockholm's fashionista circle. The names of designers Christina and Sara became familiar to the public when they were chosen as to be among the top three new designers whose works were exhibited at Stockholm Fashion Week last year. They were also among the designers invited to create a collection of unique wedding dresses for a WWF charity project named Better Cotton Initiative, aimed at reducing the negative impacts on nature caused by conventional cotton cultivation.

These two designers are known for their novel design concept called "jewellery art couture." Sara, a MFA graduate from the Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design and now the person-in-charge of Mori & Mimosa's jewellery line, explained: "This term refers to a fusion of couture and jewellery art. We develop pieces of handmade clothing and jewellery in parallel with each other. Only in this way can clothes and jewellery be created especially for each other and be of equal importance, as opposed to the conventional design process, where jewellery or accessories are usually added at the end to match the finished clothing."

Graphical intrigues

Sara's jewellery for the label is based on graphics and iconic motifs in black, white and coloured perspex, combined with silver details like handmade beaded chains. As an artist, she also creates unique larger jewellery art pieces and conceptual works under her own name for exhibiting purposes such as in the Fashion and Textile Museum in London. Of the perspex and silver pieces, Sara prefers the black and white ones, such as the large swan brooches and the skull and wings necklaces. "They are like instant classics that I could wear every day and never get tired of," she said.

After all, her ambition is to make every piece of jewellery look so natural that it feels as though it could not have been designed in any other way. For example, one of her beloved designs is the "Mink Boa" with faceted amber (named "Amber Makeover"), which was made as part of a Russian-Swedish exhibition on the theme of amber.

She said: "I like the fact that it is based on the idea of changing the status of a material (amber) from handicraft material to luxury material by cutting it in diamond-like shapes and combining it with gold and mink fur. I also like its aspect of genuine craftsmanship. It is entirely handmade and it took me countless hours to complete it, which lends it a solid, finished expression that is important to me."

According to Sara, the latest Mori & Mimosa collection is probably the best example of their "jewellery art couture" concept: dresses with integrated jewellery. The main themes on the jewellery side are keys, locks and numbers in silver and black perspex, with lots of chains, black satin ribbons and bows.

From Sweden to the world

As an exclusive brand of handmade clothes and jewellery in limited series, the label has already established a foothold in their hometown of Stockholm with a small retail store and gallery, targeting customers who appreciate originality and uniqueness. Some of their designs are also carried in a number of select shops in major cities across Europe specialising in smaller clothing and accessories brands.

Most recently, their products are featured in an interesting online shop called From Sweden With Love that has just been launched and that focuses on selling Swedish products to the Japanese market. While managing to make their jewellery and clothing complement each other perfectly, Sara and her fashion designer partner Christina strive to find time to work in collaboration with a number of others, including the talented pattern designer Malin Björklund and well-respected photographers The Grain.

Sara mentioned more about their plans for the future: "We are planning to set up our own web shop. We will also soon expand our Mori & Mimosa line of products with a series of printed silk scarves. I am designing the patterns and looking for producers and distributors right now, which is a very exciting process. Also, I am designing patterns for wallpapers and printed textiles, which I hope to get into production soon. Generally, we are looking for ways of collaborating with different producers and other design brands."

She continued: "Of course, we also like to find new markets for our existing products, and we are especially interested in Asia. At the same time, we don't want to grow too fast, because everything we make is handmade and we want it to stay that way, as we feel that it keeps us closer to the creative process."

Source: Asia's Fashion Jewellery & Accessories Review