Kerry Howley’s material exploration of attraction and aversion lead her to creating gorgeous necklaces made of human hair.
With Attraction/Aversion Howley, a jewellery design student, wanted to explore the seemingly opposing emotional responses that people experience towards their hair. Hair is something that people are familiar with, and often take pride in but once it is removed from the body it becomes an innate source of aversion.
In an attempt to make discarded hair attractive again, Howley turned the hair into the familiar form of a necklace, using patterns and symmetry that people find aesthetically pleasing. Attraction/Aversion aims to maintain that very delicate balance between attraction and aversion that people feel towards human hair.