Located in the heart of London's Mayfair district, Sotheby's Salon continues to serve as a cross-category luxury destination and interactive space for art lovers, collectors and all those who like to gather at New Bond Street to indulge in their passions for all things luxury – in true Sotheby’s spirit.
For the past two centuries, the auction house has been the gold standard at the heart of the art world, appraising masterpieces and handling high-profile consignments which are later hammered down to the highest bidder. Beyond redefining the presentation of art auctions worldwide, Sotheby’s has also expanded into an auction market for fine jewellery and other luxury collectibles, leading record-breaking sales for rare watches, gemstones and limited edition handbags.
This summer, the Salon is presenting British designer Hannah Martin’s jewellery collections, available to purchase for a limited time – August through September 5th.
Hannah Martin is Not Conventional Jewellery
The artist’s creations embody a raw energy and the spirit of rebellious punk, with works inspired by political upheaval, radical honesty and personal transformation.
From Constantin Brâncuși’s sculptures to surrealist artist Man Ray and the queer erotic art of Tom of Finland, the unlikely inspirations behind Hannah Martin’s collections gave shape to jewellery crafted by unfiltered emotion, self-expression and reinvention.
Donning a perpetually black punk-rock wardrobe and a signature mohawk haircut, Martin studied jewellery design at Central Saint Martins, where she fully embraced the college’s cultural and sonic riches. After graduating, she moved to Paris and spent time apprenticing at the bench in Cartier’s Paris ateliers on Place Vendôme. Having won the esteemed Cartier Award, she was also commissioned to create complete high jewellery collections for other legacy brands, including Louis Vuitton and Chaumet.
Equipped with finely tuned high jewellery making skills, Martin returned to her soul city, London and founded Hannah Martin Jewellery brand in 2006.
Challenging the Notion of Luxury
Hannah Martin was set on breaking rules and rocking the status quo around the notion of luxury.
She first touched base with this concept while working at Cartier, in the heart of Parisian jewellery heritage, where she first fell in love with precious metals – gold, especially.
Persistently questioning the gender bias in the jewellery world, she could not understand why jewellery had to be so different for men and women. On that note, she launched her very first collection in 2005, which laid the foundation for her cross-gender, bold, androgynous and sculptural style that still sets her apart in today’s highly competitive luxury landscape.
Armed with a distinctive brand identity and avant-garde designs that blur the boundary of gender, Martin is well placed within the broader industry trend of niche jewellery.
Says Hannah: “Although luxury jewellery isn’t about to save the world, I believe very strongly that creative output in any form is an essential part of our survival as humans.”
“I wanted to make pieces of jewellery that felt like they were oozing with life. Getting to the essence of who and what we are – flesh, bone, skin. Real. Human. Messy and beautiful and full of life.”
It Is Hannah Martin’s Time at Sotheby’s Salon
The Queen of Punk takes centre stage at Sotheby’s London, where a bespoke curation of her most significant jewellery creations will be on display this summer.
Martin’s best-known collections – It’s Only Rock n Roll, Aguila Dorada, The Perfect Drug and Vincent – are available worldwide and have attracted her a loyal celebrity clientele including musicians and designers such as Cara Delevigne, Erin O'Connor, Zaha Hadid, Madonna and Rihanna.
Sotheby’s capsule showcase includes creations from the A Vanitas collection and Martin’s tenth collection, The Perfect Drug.
A Vanitas was the result of a resounding collaboration with Guy Berryman, Coldplay’s bassist, who founded the fashion label Applied Art Forms.
Inspired by the moody stillness of 17th-century Dutch Vanitas paintings, the collection draws from centuries-old symbolism to craft something utterly modern.
Created in both silver and gold, the gender-fluid capsule features razorblade motifs and pearls hand-carved into delicate skulls – each piece more provocative than the previous, enveloped by an aesthetic that is unmistakably Martin’s: subversive, expressive and brilliantly composed.
The Perfect Drug and Other ‘Addictions’
Martin reinforces the same signature rebel aesthetic (that made her one of the most singular voices in high jewellery creation), with The Perfect Drug.
Coming on the back of a visceral response to what she calls the “numbness” of the digital age and the assault of information and stimuli, the collection embraces physicality and emotional rawness. These are not just jewels, but a celebration of life – with pain and pleasure as dual realities – resulting in pieces that are risky and risqué, taking her edginess even closer to the edge. The Perfect Drug is a fierce tribute to living, loving, hurting, and healing – one razor-sharp design at a time.
Sotheby’s Salon will also show other pieces from Hannah Martin’s core collections, including the sculptural Ring of Fire from White Heat, vivid emerald-set jewels from Delirium, and select works from Somebody’s Sins, Aguila Dorada, and It’s Only Rock ’n’ Roll. Among them, the golden shackle bangle, originally from Aguila Dorada, evokes the allure of hidden treasure, with its piratical theme. Yet, as Martin notes, it is less about captivity and more about a “bid for freedom”. These are pieces that come alive on the skin – sensual, provocative, and emotionally charged – to deliver a visceral experience through their suggestive references of music, myth and memory.
Final Note
In a perfect fusion of refinement and rebellion, Martin pushes the art of goldsmithing to new heights, exploring with renewed ingenuity to achieve her signature contrasts and create jewellery that is as technically striking as it is poetic.
Her creative reach extends beyond jewellery, into design collaborations that resulted in crafted medals for the London Design Festival, designed cocktail sets for Grey Goose Vodka, and hand-blown glass hip flasks for Hendrick’s Gin.
In an industry often fixated on the idea of polished perfection, Martin’s work offers a deliberate counterpoint. Embracing authenticity, individuality and emotional depth with resolute conviction, her jewellery challenges conventions, marking her as one of the most resounding voices in contemporary design.
