The perfect antidote (we would argue), and sublimely preferable, to today’s flawless, shiny, commercialised jewellery are Eileen Coyne’s subtly glittering raw black diamonds caught in hand-wrought precious metal settings.
Sourced closer to the centre of the earth, black diamonds, with their characteristic high carbon content, are formed under the pressure of the weight of the world. Born often of volcanic and seismic seizures spewing particles from the farthest recesses, Coyne’s settings suggest the molten material from which black diamonds emerge. Coyne, herself, contrasts mainstream, branded jewellery designs with hers as “…the difference between a straight line and an ever changing line.”
Eileen’s route to designing jewellery, via work as an illustrator, interior decorator and textile artist, came as a logical next step in her career. Her experience in using colour, form and line with precision are the disciplines she brings to her jewellery and, as original as they are, her respect for the materials and their possibilities are her starting point. She counts Ancient Greek and Roman gold work as influences, weaving and composing with a wide palette: bone, wood, shell, meteorite fragments and of course gemstones, gold and silver, for which she has become widely recognised.
Black diamonds’ re-emergence was sparked, in part, by a ‘cameo’ in Sex & The City in the form of the engagement ring given by Mr. Big to Carrie Bradshaw, and Eileen Coyne’s designs with their powerful sense of spontaneity have dressed the hands of many on film including in the Bond series (‘The World Is Not Enough’ ).