Sophie Buhai, whose sculptural silver jewelry has become a fixture on the cool-girl fashion circuit, is expanding her practice with a collection of limited-edition objects that bridge the gap between adornment and art. Titled “Jewelry Objects,” the debut range includes a series of sterling silver vessels, candlesticks, and sculptural boxes that extend Buhai’s signature vocabulary — organic geometry, hand-hammered surfaces, and a reverence for the Art Deco era — into the realm of functional design.
Buhai’s move into objects follows a trajectory that several jewelry designers have taken before her, from Elsa Peretti’s iconic bone cuff to the more recent home-object collections from Jennifer Fisher and Jade Trau. But Buhai brings a distinct perspective shaped by her background in fine arts and her decades-long study of modernism. Her pieces evoke the clean lines of Jean-Michel Frank and the sensual forms of Isamu Noguchi, filtered through a distinctly feminine sensibility that softens the angularity of traditional Art Deco.
“Jewelry Objects” will be available at Buhai’s Los Angeles flagship and through a select group of design galleries, including The Future Perfect in New York and Galerie Philia in Paris. The limited edition — each piece is produced in an edition of 25 — guarantees scarcity in a category where exclusivity drives both price and prestige.
The collection is produced in collaboration with a Los Angeles-based metalsmithing studio that specializes in lost-wax casting, a technique that Buhai has used throughout her jewelry line. Each piece requires 40 to 60 hours of handwork, a level of labor that places the objects firmly in the collectible design category. A small covered box retails for $2,800, while the largest vessel reaches $12,000 — prices that reflect the handmade nature of the work rather than brand markups.
The timing is strategic. The collectible design market has seen a surge in interest from younger buyers who treat functional objects as both decoration and investment. Buhai’s existing client base — women who buy her jewelry for its sculptural quality as much as its wearability — is a natural audience for pieces that sit on a shelf or a coffee table with the same presence as a necklace on a décolletage.
