Making Michaela Coel’s jewellery for the Met Gala 2023
Met Gala 2023
In response to the brief, Emefa designed a headpiece, which is based on a coral branch and was crafted using tiny gold nuggets of SMO gold as well as earrings and two cocktail rings, hand textured to look like silky liquid gold. The gold can be traced to Endeavour Mining’s, Ity mine in Cote d’Ivoire, celebrated for its responsible mining practices.
Ghanaian-British jeweller, Emefa Cole, whose boldly scaled, geology-inspired work has been acquired by the V&A, and the Goldsmith’s Collection, as well as being featured in Vogue, Vanity Fair, The International New York Times and more was approached by Michaela Coel given both of their Ghanaian heritage.
The Met Gala is the world's most prestigious fashion event, held annually in New York on the first Monday in May for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in New York City.
The guestlist is composed of personalities who are perceived to be contemporaneously relevant to society and cherry picked by editor and chief of US Vogue, Anna Wintour. It is a great honour to be invited to co-host and so for Michaela to use this stage to shine a light on the talents of Emefa Cole and the work of SMO gold is a gracious and important gesture rarely seen on the red carpet.
As an early adopter of SMO gold, Emefa could confidently
reassure Michaela the gold used would be responsibly sourced and traceable to the land of both of their parents’ birth. The chain of custody from mine to market allows all SMO gold to be granted a QR code for consumers to see where the gold was sourced and the positive impact it makes.
Worth their Weight
Following the Met, the pieces will become part of a new collection which also includes two large cuffs, a bangle and brooch titled “Worth Their Weight” – a play on the sheer weight of traceable gold and the traditional Akan brass weights used by West African people as measuring tools.
The collection worn by Michaela was granted its own QR code to take you from Mine to Met and witness the journey of the gold; the mine, the miners, the community and environmental projects, meet Emefa Coel in her studio and finally see Michaela Coel on the red carpet. Traceability at its best.
