Andreas Kronthaler on Vivienne Westwood’s jewellery, the Orb and why creativity belongs to everyone

The world of Vivienne Westwood jewellery is informed by the duo’s defiant spirit, and it is most clearly reflected in choice of materials. The exhibition’s main poster features a photograph of Westwood wearing a 17th-century-inspired tiara made not from diamonds and gold, but papier-mâché—a sarcastic comment on precious jewellery, which has long been regarded as a symbol of prestige. The idea was Kronthaler’s. “I saw some very intricate jewellery designs in old books and liked how they looked on the page,” he says. “So we photocopied them, put the paper in the microwave to dry it—sometimes it would burn a little at the edges—and then mounted them as earrings and all sorts of other pieces.”

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This speaks to Westwood’s “Do It Yourself” ethos—also the title of one of the exhibition’s rooms—and her deeply held belief that creativity belongs to everyone, regardless of the materials they can access. “Vivienne would decorate herself with anything [on hand],” Kronthaler tells us. “She would use the foil from inside cigarette packets and put it around her teeth, so you had golden teeth—it’s so simple to do, but she made it so special.” The exhibition brings this spirit to life through an array of such pieces: a jewellery set made from drinks cans, old watches repurposed into delicate bird pins, and a crochet-and-conker necklace that Westwood herself used to wear regularly. 

Out of curiosity, we asked Kronthaler—whose house is also famed for its wedding gowns—what a Vivienne Westwood wedding ring might look like. He paused, sinking into thought for a long moment, before a smile crept across his face. “Probably a ring made from a beer can tab.”

The exhibition would not be complete without a room dedicated entirely to the Orb,  the brand’s logo, consisting of a globe encircled by rings, like a planet. The symbol first appeared in Westwood’s Harris Tweed collection in 1987 and has remained the house’s defining icon ever since—one that is clearly close to Kronthaler’s heart. “The most valuable jewellery always expresses something beyond wealth,” Kronthaler says of the Orb. “[It] represents the past, exists in the present, and says something about the future.” The design unites a royal orb—an homage to British tradition and history—with the rings of Saturn, symbolising space, innovation and the future. Since its introduction, it has been reinterpreted across the house’s jewellery and ready-to-wear in an ever-expanding range of materials, scales, colours and finishes—as evidenced by the 100+plus Orb pieces on display.

The exhibition also highlights Westwood’s love of travel and her appreciation for craftsmanship from around the world. The Exploration room features jewellery drawn from a wide range of global traditions and histories. Among them is the Amazonia necklace, a beaded piece that Westwood made while travelling in Brazil near the Amazon, where she was actively campaigning to protect the rainforest and the communities living within it.

Through jewellery that appears, on the surface, eccentric and rebellious, the exhibition reveals a Vivienne Westwood of unexpected tenderness and emotional depth—a side equally present in Vivienne Westwood & Jewellery, a catalogue by Thames & Hudson published to coincide with the touring exhibition. 

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