OLD JEWELRY is excited to announce the second presentation of one-of-a-kind and editioned jewelry works by the Paris-based artist ZOÉ MOHM.

MOHM creates highly sought-after dreamy, textural and ecstatic jewelry objects.  Her  first collection of works presented in the United States (May 2024), which marked the beginning of OLD JEWELRY’S contemporary SHOWCASE program, was inspired by 1920s New York City and the modes of panel-style-storytelling found in her father’s comic books. This second SHOWCASE collection draws inspiration from her memories of a lost necklace pendant, purchased by her mother in Cambodia in the early 1980s with what MOHM describes as her mother’s  “first wages.”  MOHM remembers the pendant giving the mood of “a picnic in a Fragonard painting, or an English cottage in Spring.”

The inspirational piece predated the country’s genocide (1975-1979).  “The fact that those designs were made in Cambodia in the 1950's or 60's speaks to how colonialism brought with it the images of luxury which were interpreted by Cambodian jewelers in their own work. It’s  intriguing to me that those pieces which depict Spring and plenty and bounty were made just before à génocide that starved and killed a third of the population. This object still managed to be passed on, through the war, and worn after it, with love and care. It is now lost, most likely thrown away in a bin by mistake. “ 

The memory of this lost and undocumented jewelry object is the starting point of MOHM’s new diamond collection (April’s symbolic birthstone), which mixes classic European-inspired diamond flower designs with traditional weaving techniques that MOHM learned in Cambodia. The woven techniques are mostly used for everyday objects like rugs or boxes, from palm leaves and bamboo from local gardens. Mohm states, “I like playing around with those things with one idea in mind,  flowers in baskets.” 

MOHM's unique jewelry works are crafted using a variety of methods (weaving, forging, lost wax casting, etc) and are crafted by ZOÉ in her Paris studio.