HERITAGE AND CRAFT: The journey of a remarkable goldsmith
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nly a few special people can develop a meaningful symbiotic relationship between life’s challenges and a nurturing of their imagination over the years. For a body of work to have sensitivity, beauty, and glamour, yet be fearless, comes only through experiencing the narrative of hardship, love, pain and joy that life will often throw our way. The turbulent emotions we experience become part of who we are: by baring our souls and being true to ourselves, self-expression can become our voice through creativity. A true designer will engage with his or her audience, inviting the spectator to be part of the artist’s journey. Shaun Leane is one such designer. Born in 1969 in London as an only child to his Irish father and English mother, his imagination was his constant companion. The streets of Finsbury Park, North London, were his playground, but they were not without their challenges. To hold his own, Leane learnt how to defend himself. He built up an armour of resilience and independence, relying on his imagination as a form of escapism.
Coil corset | Created for Alexander McQueen The Overlook, AW99 Hand-forged aluminium rods
Leane’s early years were instrumental in shaping his unique view of the world. As a child, he was intensely curious and loved exploring the garden of his Victorian home searching for relics from its past. His dream was to become an archaeologist and to uncover the stories of objects hidden underfoot, awaiting discovery. For the young boy, unearthing treasures, such as a long-forgotten glass bottle, was the gateway into another life. His discoveries filled his mind with questions: “Who had this bottle belonged to? Had it once contained a tonic, some poison or a secret message…?” Leane’s imagination was free to run wild, fuelling a passion for history that would come to define his later work. His father, Jimmy, owned a construction business, which prospered during Leane’s early childhood. Success in business rewarded Jimmy and his wife Diane with a vibrant and glamorous
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‘The Queen of the Night’ necklace Created to celebrate Boucheron’s 150th anniversary, 2008 Blackened gold, 15.29ct colour change purple sapphire, diamonds, rubies, sapphires
‘Belle à Lier’ corset | Created for Swarovski Runway Rocks, 2013 Silver, Swarovski crystals Beetle brooch | Bespoke, 2014 Gold, blackened gold, cabochon black sapphires
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him, saying, “Ignore them, they’re idiots. I’m Shaun”. From that moment the two young men forged an instant connection and began a close and meaningful friendship that lasted until McQueen’s death 18 years later. Returning from clubbing later that same evening, they talked into the early hours of the morning about their families, lives, hopes and dreams for the future. To an outsider, the friendship seemed completely improbable as the two young men worked at polar ends of the creative spectrum: Leane was a classically trained goldsmith from a conservative segment of the industry, whilst McQueen designed in a forward-thinking, fearless fashion world. Nothing could have been further from the truth; instead, each balanced the other’s personalities. McQueen was in fact extremely shy and Leane felt an instinctive urge to protect him, knowing the feeling all too well from his younger days of defending himself against street bullies. Leane’s own experiences had engendered in him a sensitivity to anyone he sensed was being victimised; he was not afraid to physically defend McQueen, which led to a few scuffles in pubs and clubs. Seldom are we lucky enough to find a vehicle through which we can express ourselves to others and reveal our inner emotions, longings, expectations and passions. Sometimes it is serendipity that offers two people the opportunity to connect. When McQueen and Leane met, both 22 years old, it was the joining of two souls. Talented and creative, they had both shared experiences that had damaged their self-worth but had found a voice and a sense of empowerment in their creative fields. Despite feeling immensely rewarded by his work with antique jewellery, Leane could not shake the urge to create and be heard; for years he had given the original owners of antique jewels a voice, but it was not his own creative voice. McQueen recognised this desire in him and, unbeknown to Leane at the time, would turn it all around, giving him the outlet that he craved. On an ordinary evening in 1994, McQueen was sitting on his usual bench in Hatton Garden opposite the ETJ workshop, waiting for his friend to finish work before a night of partying. McQueen
Star pendant The Reflective Series, 2015 Gold, platinum, diamonds Star headdress | Created for Alexander McQueen in collaboration with Swarovski Gemstones | In Memory of Elizabeth Howe, AW07 Silver, blue topaz
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BEAUTIFULLY DANGEROUS: Reflections on the work of Shaun Leane and Alexander McQueen
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he Overlook, Alexander McQueen, 23 February 1999, London: a model wearing a corset made from shimmering metal coils stands patiently while a huddle of people clusters around her. Several pairs of hands support the corset’s weight, as Shaun Leane carefully tightens the tiny screws that bolt the exoskeleton closed, sealing her in. The corset is being put on Laura Morgan – upon whose body cast it was formed – at the last minute because the metal is heavy, and once on cannot be easily or quickly removed. McQueen’s models are used to this; complicit even. They know that walking for his shows is performative, and that a certain amount of discomfort, even claustrophobia, is to be expected. But wearing metal takes things to another level: although in the skilled hands of Leane it can appear to silver the body, create shards of light or bloom mercurial with orchids and roses, it needs to be taken seriously. “Wearing that coiled corset forced me to stand up,” Morgan recalled. “I couldn’t turn my head, I couldn’t move my arms, I couldn’t move the top part of my body… It forces you to pay attention, forces you to be present, and be there, and be what
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you are. It’s very commanding.” 1
Orchid shoulder-piece Pantheon Ad Lucem, AW04 Silver, carved resin
We witness equivalent scenes of intense focus in Ann Ray’s evocative photography, includ-
electroformed in silver
ing that first wearing of the coil corset backstage for The Overlook: the armouring up of the models, the surgical precision in the placing of a headpiece (a winged nest of pavé-set birds’
Coil corset | The Overlook, AW99 Hand-forged aluminium rods
eggs, perhaps, or a feathered eagle skull, its eye sockets glittering with black crystals) 2 the piercing of an ear lobe with a silver quill… as if all were part of a mysterious ritual. Unusually, this liminal moment, the lull before the storming of the catwalk, is re-enacted two years later in the V&A museum as part of its live catwalk event: ‘Fashion in Motion’. Warders and curators hover as the models prepare in the V&A’s Ironwork Gallery, which runs like a spine along the width of the building. They are about to parade through the museum, up and down
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Quoted by Caroline Evans in her essay ‘Hard Grace’ in Alexander McQueen, ed. Claire Wilcox, V&A, 2015, p.197.
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Shaun Leane and Philip Treacy for Alexander McQueen, Widows of Culloden, AW06.
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MODERN CLASSICS
There is something of the magician about Shaun Leane. He can translate what you want before you know it. Like the Aztec meets Deco fluid diamond and sapphire fringe tassels around my pair of mis-matched amethysts, which conjure up emotion each time I look at them. They’re invested with connoisseurship, romance and something quite out of the ordinary, which is spellbinding. Carol Woolton
Deco-style fringe earrings Bespoke, 2017 White gold, amethyst, diamonds, sapphires
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Storm earrings | Created for Asprey | Storm, 2013 White gold, diamonds Storm necklace | Created for Asprey | Storm, 2013 White gold, diamonds
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‘Sonnet XVIII’ earrings Made in collaboration with Diacore for the Forevermark Promise Exhibition, 2012 | Rose gold, white gold, D-colour flawless diamonds Lapel brooch with en tremblant mounted beetles | Bespoke, 2013 Platinum, white gold, aluminium, sapphires, hand-carved tanzanite, hand-carved rock crystal, enamel
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Shaun Leane catches the most vicious minute of our psyche. I find the work is Thomas Hardy in romance. Organic movement with sensuous shapes that curl and twist around our feeble body. Objects for eternity. Isabella Blow
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Shaun has been a close friend and companion for many years. He captures the feeling of my work and the aesthetic of the time we are in… full of structure and finesse, crafted to perfection. Lee Alexander McQueen
ISBN: 978-1-78884-073-6
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