THE RYENN’S EYES X QUENTIN JONES COLLABORATION
What’s in a name? Who is Ryenn? What’s special about her eyes?
Naming a brand is like naming a child. Deeply personal. Zeus or Joe? Donald or Goofy? Sometimes the name just comes, in a moment of lucidity. Sometimes it takes a while. It grows on you. You live with a few names, toss a few ideas around and, surprisingly often, come back to the name you first thought of. Gut instinct. With Ryenn’s Eyes it was like waiting for the blossom to appear on the cherry trees in an orchard. One day, everything is green, then suddenly… wow! An explosion of colour. And you wonder how you couldn’t see the blossom arriving. Or how you lived without it.
“We murder to dissect”, Wordsworth warned, and it’s true, some things don’t bear analysis but people keep asking, so here’s the naming journey we went on. We started from the persona. Who was the character at the heart of our story? We knew she/he/they had plenty of attitude. Attitude was number one. That was clear. This person knows who they are. They don’t suffer fools gladly. They’re rebellious, creative, full of energy, full of ideas. Conventional they are not. They’re alternative souls. And the way they see the world…that’s what we wanted to tap into. How does life look from their point of view? Through their eyes.
We articulated this persona loosely as ‘rebel chic’, which made us think about people and subcultures that turned thinking on its head and stood up to authority. The Beat Generation sprung to mind. The ‘Beats’ broke the mould. They took on the post-War world with a desire to shake it up, change perceptions, drink from the other side of the cup. Kerouac, Ashberry, Ginsberg, O’Hara – the literature is exciting, vibrant, alive with possibilities but where were the women? They were there, alright. Right at the forefront of change in the 50s and 60s. They just didn’t get the credit. But without women like Diane di Prima, Joanne Kyger and Carolyn Cassady none of the transformative thinking and none of the reforms would have taken hold. None of it. Rosa Parks, Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, Joan Baez. Women change the world. Like we didn’t know this.
But these are the 2020s and we always look forward, not back. The name we chose had to be fresh, gender neutral, without any affiliation to the past. A new, forward-focused identity for a new, forward-thinking brand. We wanted a strong character to represent a collection of mould-breaking contemporary jewellery worn by people who know themselves, know their style, and set the pace. Wild cats. Trailblazers who refuse to be confined by convention or the fashion consensus. This is jewellery that lives on its own, beyond trend, beyond Twitter, beyond the approval of others. We love fashion, we really do, but we don’t live by it.
So all these thoughts were going around and around like sticks in a whirlpool… and then Ryenn just arrived. Out of nowhere. Eyes burning with fiery intensity. Full of mystery. It felt like Ryenn chose us.
And then came Quentin. We’ve admired her work from afar and she felt like the perfect fit for Ryenn. Brave, gutsy, not attached to any particular agenda. A free spirit with unquenchable talent and creative energy. We love her art, her film, the kooky-craziness, the defiance. The strength. This is me.
We love her bold, refreshing approach to art, mixing media – paint, torn paper, black and white photography, graphics, typography, collage, montage – and how she always takes us on a journey. The mystery is exciting. What is she saying? Does she even know? Is she playing with us? Is she trying to elicit a reaction? It’s that elusiveness we crave for in art – think of the Mona Lisa or Warhol’s silkscreens. It’s not science, it’s a commentary on the human condition, and we like to think our jewellery resonates with that same sense of humanity. Eternal and yet ephemeral.
Ryenn’s mission is to promote creativity in all aspects of life. Not just in style, in how you wear a piece of jewellery, or when you wear it, but in terms of thinking beyond the usual. We champion the concept of the vibrant creative collective – the idea that it’s not just established ‘artists’ and performers who dictate our cultural identity. Anyone can contribute. Every idea is worthy. What matters is intention, authenticity and a respect for craft. The craft of the past. We’re not throwing out what’s gone before, we’re learning from it, from the successes and failures of previous generations, from the Mayans, the Mesopatamians and the Modernists.
So we’ll be searching out those remarkable talents, and shining a light on them wherever they emerge. In fine art, photography, music, literature. The Kygers and Kerouacs of the future. All those Ryenns and Quentins ready to burst into blossom.
Find out more about Quentin Jones here: