A show arranged to celebrate Elsa Peretti's association with Tiffany & Company.
In a room painted deep blue, Miss Peretti and an exhibition designer, Manuel Outumuro, created 15 vignettes of her work, divided into themes like ''Hearts,'' ''Bones'' and ''Scorpions and Snakes.'' Rather than isolate the objects as pure sculpture, she displayed them in a context to explain how each idea evolved.
In the bean exhibit, for example, she displayed dried beans, sketches of beans and the resulting cuff links, evening bag and pendant. With the theme of the bean, I have to keep the line good,'' Miss Peretti said. For a cigarette lighter, the bean becomes rectangular so it can be easily grasped and the top flipped open. For a purse, however, the bean has a curve in one side that better suits its use.
In the vignette titled ''Bones,'' she has a sketch of a rabbit bone and a sterling silver candlestick in the shape of a bone.
A rattlesnake's tail, which she once received as a gift, was the inspiration for a belt, and a scorpion-inspired a necklace.
Although her designs are executed in materials ranging from lacquer to bamboo to diamonds, she is most famous for her designs in sterling silver, a material with which she has worked since the late 1960's.

TIFFANY & CO. Return to Tiffany Oval tag bracelet

TIFFANY & CO. Elsa Peretti Open Heart charm

TIFFANY & CO. Elsa Peretti Sevillana ring

Friday, November 20, 2009