Matthew Swope Chryssocolla on Handmade Cotton Cord

Matthew Swope has been designing jewelry, re-working vintage garments and making handbags and pouches since 2000. Rarely making multiples, his works are almost always unique pieces made from a wide variety of traditional jewelry materials as well as those non-traditional. Born in Colorado in 1964 and raised in Pennsylvania, he studied Art History at Columbia University’s School of General Studies, graduating cum laude.

As a teenager he began working for Comme des Garçons, first at the boutique in San Francisco, and later as manager and buyer of the New York store on Wooster Street in Manhattan. Pursuing a career in fashion, over the years he has worked with numerous designers, including Stephen Sprouse, Vivienne Westwood, and Costume National, but it was his time working for Rei Kawakubo that was most formative. Finding inspiration almost everywhere, and inordinately fond of making necklaces and pendants, his pieces are often of two distinct minds. One fluid and organic, tasteful, subdued in color and nature based, the other synthetic, chemical, geometrical, full of colors rare or impossible to find in the natural world, and fabricated with man-made materials.

Measurements:

3" Chryssocolla Pendant

20" Handmade Cotton Cord