One of my highlights at ICFF this year was the Mike and Maaike booth, in particular their new Stolen Jewels collection. The printed and scored leather “jewels” tell an interesting story, they’re based on actual stolen jewels, in fact pixilated images of the stolen gems from the web, and printed on scored leather so that each facet/pixel can be bent out. Mike just sent us some studio shots of the collection that do better justice to the collection than my show floor shots. More after the jump.

Per Mike and Maaike; "An exploration of tangible vs. virtual in relation to real and perceived value. Using Google Image Search, we browsed through some of the most expensive and often famous jewelry in the world, the resulting low-res images we found were stolen, doctored, then transferred onto leather, creating a tangible new incarnation. With the expense of the jewels and the intricacy of their construction stripped away, their essence and visual intensity are extracted.

Stolen Pieces include the Hope Diamond Broach, the Golden Jubilee Diamond Broach, the Great Chrysanthemum Necklace, and Imelda Marcos' Ruby Necklace with Diamonds by Van Cleef & Arpels among others."

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