Tom Binns is not your average jewelry maker. While his boldness is sometimes labeled as anger, his creativity is always labeled as controversial. Just the way he likes it. He has been known to treat diamonds with incredible abandon while handling found beach glass with juxtaposing reverence all the while making anyone who comes into contact with his jewelry question themselves and the world around them.
He says, “I want to make people think, to challenge them. That is the function of art.” One fine example is his combining of a flying toy plane with streaming nuts and bolts to express his thoughts on Boeing’s safety record. Perhaps his rebel behavior can be attributed to his unusual pedigree. Binns was born in Belfast, Ireland where he embraced the Dada movement while earning his degree in jewelry design from Middlesex Polytechnic.
He later collaborated with Punk pioneers Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren, which lead him to the fashion world. Over two decades later, Binns has relocated to New York City where he feels his work is more appreciated because Americans are more open to new ideas. Some of his latest work includes a sweet schoolgirl charm bracelet which he adorns with icons of death and destruction (think skull and crossbones and a heart pierced with a hunting knife). Not that we would expect anything less.
