PROFILE
ELPPIN
MAGNETS OF ATTENTION | BY ISABELLA YAN
W
omen empowerment is a hot topic for Carina Hardy of Elppin, a visual artist and jewelry designer who puts the breast at the forefront of her work. Elppin (“nipple” spelled backward) is breast-inspired jewelry which arouses attention and creates impact. Elppin’s line of subversive jewelry is made from hammered sterling silver and 22k gold plated brass that can be fastened to your shirt or bra using magnets. At only 24 years old, this emerging talent has a defiant vision to shift and dissolve outdated perceptions surrounding breasts. With an eye-shaped nipple motif, Hardy challenges the patriarchal gaze, censorship, concealment and repression. Hardy is based between the tropics of Bali and New York. Every piece is handmade in Bali by local artisans from start to finish. Can you give me some background into your journey before launching Elppin? I grew up in Bali, back when many village women were topless, and volunteered as a doula at the local free natural birth clinic throughout my teens. This experience really shaped how I understand women, mothers and childbirth, and the connection to breasts as a natural life source. Throughout university, I made art inspired by breasts; from plaster casting women’s chests to building enormous inflatable structures in the shape of breasts.
vested in jewelry could be reclaimed for and by women. The whole idea for Elppin really challenges the patriarchal world of jewelry as we know it in it’s adorational adornment of the breast. What is women empowerment to you? What do you want women to feel when they wear your pieces? Empowered women have agency and feel that power, in themselves, in their bodies, their actions, and reflected in the world. I want people wearing Elppin to feel like they are part of a movement that uplifts. Everyone has a story about breasts, so everyone has at least one breast story. I want to help create a space that affirms positive relationships with our bodies so people can share these breast stories. Through sharing, I believe we can continue to deconstruct the myths that make breasts taboo and engage in nuanced conversations to unpack our conditioned ideas about, and relationship to breasts and bodies. That’s why Breast Stories are an integral element of the Elppin project.
How did the idea to start a jewelry line paying tribute to the breast come about?
Like many other spheres, the gems and jewelry industry has largely been seen as a “man’s world,” where women have had to overcome significant barriers in working in this sector. Are you able to shed some light on how you think the gems and jewelry world may readdress this gender imbalance? And in particular with Elppin?
The idea was ignited during a political and artistic awakening at university that really got me thinking about breasts and my desire to subvert patriarchal power structures associated with women’s sexualization.
The gems and jewelry industry has already had to adapt to the market forces of the economically empowered woman, but the industry cannot rely solely on the market to change its systemic workings.
My best friend in Bali has defiantly perky nipples. She dislikes bras but loathes the endless gaze of braless breasts. So we shielded her nipples with a protective evil eye to reflect the gaze and empower her by making Elppin.
Most industries are male dominated. No movement towards gender equality will survive if it pretends it exists in a bubble and acts based on that lie. Changes that occur in any industry are always a part of a larger effort to combat gender inequality, but that doesn’t mean that those in the gems and jewelry industry can’t lead the way! Fighting patriarchy isn’t just negative in the philosophical sense, but positive.
I was inspired to make jewelry that both adorns the breast and armors against the patriarchal gaze by calling attention to a part of the body which is otherwise covered and obscured. I was interested in how the power
We must create ways to include women, not by limiting 31 | UPSCALE LIVING MAGAZINE | DECEMBER 2020