When Catbird, the Brooklyn, N.Y.–based jeweler known for its minimalist brand of cool, partnered with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in August of 2020, it was a collaboration to be celebrated.
Because you can’t talk about 2020 without remembering the pandemic and its associated lockdowns, which kept places like the Met closed to visitors. The Manhattan museum’s first collaboration with Catbird—documented, beautifully as always, by my colleague Amy Elliott (and the jewels are damn good too)—was one in a host of design collabs for the Met when it reopened its doors that summer.
Four years later, the partnership has birthed another memorable collection, this one inspired by the Met’s current Costume Institute exhibition, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” which features nearly 220 garments and accessories, spanning four centuries, that are visually connected through nature themes.
Touching on the fragility and ephemerality of objects in nature, Catbird has taken images from works owned by the Met and reimagined them in solid gold with moonstone, pearl, diamonds, and quartz. The jewelry made its debut on July 11 and is now available on Catbird’s website.
“Each 14k gold piece celebrates themes from the Costume Institute’s exhibition, such as the passage of time and the objects that live on,” says Leigh Batnick Plessner, chief creative officer at Catbird. “The collection was photographed on designer Olivia Cheng of Dauphinette, whose silk organza dress with beetles is part of the exhibition.”
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