Cartier, Buccellati (Timeless Art), Tiffany & Co and Bulgari should be on the lookout for the work of Baby Bee Hummingbirds with their jewellery that is taking the market by surprise.
People who have ever wondered what to do with their leftover IVF embryos in storage and can’t use them, don’t want to keep on paying the hefty storage fees or don’t want to donate them, but somehow want to immortalize them, are having them made into precious and very elegant pieces of jewellery. These keepsake works of art are all the rage at the moment and are becoming important elements of women’s personal collections. This very innovative fashion trend that originated in Australia is taking the world by storm.
The astonishing jewellery designs are possible at the Embryo Ash Studio, part of Baby Bee Hummingbirds, where people just send in their leftover embryos, and the company takes care of the rest, cremating the embryo and transforming it all into a lovely work of art. They say that their “exclusive jewellery infused with embryo ash” leaves “no part behind and the entire memory of your experiences combined.” A few people may think this fashion trend is somewhat extreme, but not so to the many people who have already had their embryos immortalized. For those who don’t want to display their leftover embryos, or perhaps find it too strong of a fashion statement, they can always have a vial of breastmilk made into a fancy design to wear. As the Baby Bee Hummingbirds website says, “… I truly believe that DNA & breastmilk keepsake jewellery has become so popular in recent years because people are actively looking to immortalise their memories and milestones – they want to make sure their stories are not forgotten. Art already does this beautifully, we know. But even art fades or hangs on walls, overlooked and forgotten.” The company has also developed do it yourself kits and offers a 6-month online course with certification in this fine art of jewellery making at their Academy.
Embryo and breastmilk jewellery could well be considered the pièces de résistance of jewellery making in this century!
Pendery Weekes
Volume 33 no 5 May /June 2019
Is this something serious? Are embryos really being made into jewelery? If it’s true, it is rather macabre and sinister and says something about a society that accepts this.
Fashionably unborn, embryo jewellery is similar to Damien Hirst’s embalsamed animals, but only this is worse, far worse. I checked the babybeehumingbirds’ link and found that this is for real. I believe this belongs to the category of disgusting art, of which there are many examples. I think everyone remembers the stray dog tied up in an art exhibition and starved to death all in the name of art. If you have forgotten, read on….
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2008/mar/30/art.spain
The pretext to call something art when it’s offensive goes beyond the realms of what it should represent in a visual arts context in order to elicit a response, albeit strong.