Are you a fan of Tracey Emin’s neons? Well, now you can take one away and wear it. Emin has joined forces with British couture jeweler Stephen Webster, who has taken some of her key motifs and turned them into fine jewelry.
The I Promise to Love You collection consists of diamond-studded necklaces, bracelets, and cuffs spelling out phrases used in Emin’s work including “With You I Breathe,” “Love,” and “More Passion.”
But perhaps the most striking item in the collection is a gold charm bracelet, charms include, a kitten, a badger, a hare, and a penis.
The friends of forty years—both of whom grew up in Kent—have a prior personal connection, as they are both godparents to the two youngest daughters of Mick Jones, from legendary punk band The Clash.
“Tracey made a neon for my Rodeo Drive store six years ago that read “I Promise To Love You” with the slogan sitting inside a heart,” Webster told Harper’s Bazaar of the collaboration. “Tracey said she always thought that neon belonged in a jewelry store, where people get engaged and buy wedding rings. That is a very Tracey way of looking at things.”
Webster was inspired by how well the piece of art by Emin worked alongside his jewelry, as well as by a ring he later made for the artist from her animal sketches. He then began to imagine a larger project.
“I worked from a few of Tracey’s drawings, that I have always loved, and began to sketch what I thought might be an amazing collection,” he explained to Harper’s Bazaar. “I don’t usually get stage fright but it was a lot of work on paper, and you want a positive reading. Also we kept price in mind. This is not an elitist collection. It was important to her that it wasn’t priced just for her art collectors.”
With that in mind, to take home a diamond Kiss necklace you will need to part with £1,400 ($1,997), a silver More Passion cuff with diamond lettering will cost you “£4,150” ($5,921), and a More Passion ring will set you back £4,400 ($6,278).
Selected items from the “I Promise to Love You” collection are available now on Net-a-Porter, the full collection will be available from Stephen Webster Jewelers from February 10.