Opal Fixation

Dreamtime Is All About Nature,” Muses Bruce Harding, Founder Of The Kyoto Based Jewellery Brand, Specialising In Opals. “It’s About Taking Very Important Stones From Places All Over The World And Transposing Them Into A Thing Of Beauty, An Heirloom To Enhance Your Life.
 

- Cynthia Unninayar

Harding has gone even further, however, than just making beautiful jewellery. He extrapolates the spiritual essence of the world’s most extraordinary gemstones into the creation of magnificent scarves, ties, vests, dresses, furniture and the unexpected linings for jackets and coats that exemplify and complement Nature’s majesty.

While not the first to do this, the process and design format of actually utilising the intrinsic characteristics of the stones is a fresh departure from the norm. In doing so, Harding’s fashion line promotes his jewellery line, and the jewellery promotes his fashion line.

“From the very early days in my jewellery world,” Harding explains, “I had a vision that the wonder and brilliance of gemstones could also be used in fashion and art. Thirty years later, I’m still creating fashion and art from jewellery—especially men’s fashion, which is usually very plain and stereotyped.”

Designing fashion for both men and women using vibrant natural colours is something of a challenge. But, as the designer says, “When I sell a very important opal for several hundred thousand dollars, and that person is one of the very few who will ever see that stone again, then nobody will believe that such a stone could even exist. By transposing it into fashion, everybody can understand that there are wondrous gemstones in the world and, although you may never own one, you can wear them.”