Mer | μέρος | part of | of water | mother
“I must be a mermaid. I have no fear of depths and a great fear of shallow living.”- Anaïs Nin
PICHULIK’s Mer Collection explores the mythic meaning of the mermaid as a symbol of transformation, self-discovery and alchemy. This sea and land dweller has fascinated folklore since antiquity. Part fish to traverse the wild unknown of the open ocean, and half human to breathe on earth. From Atargatis of Syria, the Ceasg of Scotland, Ningyo of Japan, Mami Wata of West Africa to the Watermeid of the Klein Karoo, these hybrid women have shapeshifted through time, skimming the line between beguiling enchantment and prophecies of potential danger.
The mermaid embodies “a beautiful creature from the unknowable depths, instantly recognisable and ultimately terrifying, who cannot be tamed by the rules of human existence.” – Holly Black
The Mer collection celebrates this mysterious female force. It explores it as an allegory for one’s self-exploration and capacity to shapeshift through one’s life, making mortal the unconscious parts of ourselves that feel instinctual and mystical. The mermaid sirens us to venture after our deepest longings and curiosities yet warns us of the rocky wreckage of impulses.
“The dual nature of the mermaid, both soulful and cold-blooded, is a reflection of the nearness and remoteness, the contact and separateness that we experience in relation to the things of the psyche’s world. “Mermaid” is mercurial, magical, shimmering, gorgeous and impersonal. She can be encountered, related to and even transformed. But as an embodiment of the unconscious, she herself wields an extraordinary fascination. The danger lies in losing one’s self in one’s longing.” – Ami Ronnberg & Kathleen Martin
The collection’s palette is both earthy and aqueous. Fecund chocolate brown, canyon rust, tawny khaki and seashore beige, are fused with fiery red carnelian, natural jasper and seaweed olive. Glassy flourite and lunar quartz stone spheres float and undulate like beguiling nudibranchs in the Attina earrings. Moss green rope forms a bold anchor clasp in the Nereida necklace. Shapes are organic and primordial, repetitive and fluid, evoking the rolling, rippling, surging and swelling of the expansive ocean. The sacred spiral of the Arista earrings invokes abundance and fulfilment. The ebb and flow of the Wave earrings summons a tide of optimism and joy.
“Only lend me a loom and I will take up the threads of this unraveled life. I will weave a braid from three strands of seaweed. I will wind it three times around my finger. I will dig my salt-encrusted hands into the soil and wed myself to the thirsty brown roots of a new beginning.” – Peregrina, Sharon Blackie
Each piece in the collection can be transformed. The Mer necklace and bracelet with their polished magnetic brass clasps can be connected to morph into necklaces of different lengths and colours, creating unique and interesting layers. The Magma lava necklace can be worn long or wrapped to create a twolayered statement choker. The Nereida necklace can shapeshift between a pendant and a shorter neckpiece. The spiral of the Arista earrings can loosen or tighten; the undulating folds of the Wave earrings ripple and morph.
The Mer Collection marks a significant moment in the evolution of the House of PICHULIK, with the introduction of our new handwoven Mermaid bag and the Clotho belt. Both pieces embrace the codes of the house, a fascination with the tactile and creative possibility of rope, sacred knots and weaving, combined with accents of cast-brass.
The bold and sculptural pieces of the collection are accentuated with three new brass hoops, the Venus, the Shell and the Crescent hoops.