Charmed: Two Times Elliott on paying visual and tonal homage to the complex emotions of the pandemic

For many designers, mention a self-initiated project and you’d be quick to conjure images of publications, posters or other printed formats. However, London-based studio Two Times Elliott have opted for a different approach, looking to the conceptual and speculative. Charmed takes the form of jewellery – intricately researched and designed charm bracelets, to be precise. Following on from their guest article, we were curious to understand it further, speaking to the Two Times Elliott team about the fascinating project.

PT Besides producing beautiful jewellery designs, what was the fundamental idea behind Charmed? And what does it mean to Two Times Elliott as a design practice?

LM Rather than one core idea, I’d say there were a number of motives involved – from narrative angles, to aesthetic aims and technical challenges. In terms of narrative, we were particularly interested in the charm bracelet due to the spiritual and communal functions which it has held over time. In prehistory, the Babylonians and Persians emblazoned their charms with symbolic figures of gods, humans and animals etc. These were talismans – believed to bestow spiritual powers and protections upon the wearer. Today, the charm bracelet is a diverse assemblage of meaningful, decorative or precious objects and this meaning and value may be either material or sentimental. In our case, it is mainly the former, in that we are exploring a symbolism of collective emotional and psychological states through these objects. This leads into the aesthetic and technical aspects of the project – both crafting these forms and cultivating their material and textural detail in support of the concepts at play.

I have a great respect and admiration for the craft of jewellery design.

PT Can you tell us who worked on the project and what their role was?

LM The Founder, James, initiated the concept and set the vision for an expressive, experimental object design project. Along the way, James’ key role was to guide the exploration toward an eventual outcome, which would exemplify the creative potential of the studio’s interdisciplinary working method while still providing an entry point for our audience.I had developed the project into a more narrative domain through material explorations into the ancient and the futuristic. I was keen to relate the pieces to contemporary jewellery design – developing design cues and functional details such as chain links, closures, hallmarks and typographic etchings. Then worked with Toby, art-directing the final outcomes, and setting up a visual system for continuing to build on the project over time.Toby, the 3D Designer and rendering wizard, developed the objects through sketching, modelling, and rendering. Toby delved deep into capturing meaning in their design – conducting material research and producing many iterations and prototypes of a given piece. He got serious about the material design, dialling in a combination of realism and the unreality that contributes to the allure of these images, and was keenly attuned to the atmospheric impact of lighting and environment.

PT How did you approach Charmed compared to a commercial design project, in terms of timeline, process and the search for a definitive outcome?

LM While our self-initiated projects tend to start in a much more fluid, explorative way, we do ultimately wind up formalising the process in order to reach any kind of outcome. In many ways, these are avenues for the kind of discovery that can only occur outside of the mode and pace of commerce. We potentially have a licence to be critical and imaginative in different ways with self-initiated work, but this doesn’t mean there are no targets or standards. We made sure to review the design development under conceptual and narrative criteria, as well as what was driving us aesthetically. What we uncover in this process is invaluable when incorporated back into client work.

PT Did you learn anything unexpected about jewellery making in the process?

LM I have a great respect and admiration for the craft of jewellery design. We wanted to honour the functional and material details in these images, which speak to that material process. On top of the procedural visual research, we studied, scanned and photographed our own pieces, examining the different chain styles, clips, links, closures and hallmarks for precious metals – the factors that convey that quality of realism, tactility and scale. Ultimately we have made a series of images with speculative jewellery pieces as the subject. We have modelled them in detail, but whether or not this makes them real objects is an ontological question about digital modelling as a medium.

PT Would you like to see them realised as tangible pieces?

LM Absolutely.

PT You mentioned in the guest article that you had originally looked for ways to commemorate the varying heightened emotions and experiences that the pandemic has brought to the surface. How has it given you a space to explore those emotions?

TCR 2020 was a seminal year for me. Being stuck within my flat immediately after a long-term breakup meant I had the time to handle the emotional rollercoaster without distractions from the outside world.

Having that enabled me to understand my own mind better. I began learning what I needed from myself to grow and feel healthy. Additionally, it taught me how to push myself to continue growing and achieve inner happiness.

Alongside this, setting life goals to have a clearer plan of what I needed, as well as solid time developing my 3D knowledge. The constant uprooting from the pandemic also enabled me to be more accepting of change and learn how to adapt to ever-changing circumstances. It’s still a learning curve, but it felt like a pivotal juncture in my life.

Client work is generally a different beast from self-initiated work.

PT How have your experiences working on client work informed your attitude and approach to self-initiated projects?

TCR A significant challenge is achieving the desired outcome for our clients but also personal growth desires. Client work is generally a different beast from self-initiated work due to the tighter considerations surrounding commercial viability, any pre-existing visual consideration and reliance on success metrics. This usually leads to a technical exploration and adjustments to both process and mindset to achieve your desired outcome.

The opposite problem can be said for self-initiated projects. Due to, at times, a lack of parameters combined with the endless possibilities achievable through 3D, self-initiated projects can be more challenging, especially at the beginning. It's vital for us here at the studio to self-construct clear parameters for exploration just to enable a really clear and defined ideation path, or else things can get a little messy.

PT What do you think are the most valuable aspects of working on self-initiated projects?

TCR Not being afraid that your outcome wont be perfect. When the only person you have to please is yourself and not a client, you can take a lot of pressure off the desired result. You can learn to appreciate the process more. You only get a sense of what you’ve created when you get that chance to reflect and review and truly understand everything you’ve made along the way.

Self-initiated projects give you that space to only have your work stand up to the standards you set yourself. It can be cathartic, teaching yourself to be okay with not a perfect outcome but more an overarching story.

Two Times Elliott