Sarah & Sebastian’s Take on the “Love Bracelet” Returns

Earlier this year, Sarah Gittoes and Robert Sebastian Grynkofki of eponymous Sydney jewellery label Sarah & Sebastian introduced their first “Soldered” pop-up project. It involved interested parties visiting the minimalist label’s Paddington flagship to have the label’s signature delicate 10-karat-gold chain soldered to their wrists. After it’s attached, the only way to remove it is to break the chain - a concept loaded with symbolism. It’s the label’s own take on Cartier’s popular “love bracelet” , which was originally designed by the French jewellery label’s Aldo Cipullo in 1969, driven by the idea of chastity – and it can only be taken off with a screw driver.

“I relate it to a tattoo in a way and think that every person who gets ‘soldered’ attributes their own meaning to the piece,” says Grynkofki.

The pair ran their first Soldered event in late March in Sydney, which saw over 50 men and women “get soldered”. Friends, mothers and daughters all attended to get soldered, together. “We’ve seen friends getting soldered to celebrate their 30th birthdays, another to mark a 25th wedding anniversary and some as an act of self-love,” says Grynkofki.

The process involves a visit to the roving pop-up, with locations announced via social media, where a Sarah & Sebastian jeweller measures the client’s wrist. Then a chain is cut to the desired fit (tighter is recommended). Next, the client is fitted with a protective arm band and the two ends of the chain are soldered together using a micro torch at about 3000 degrees. The last step is for the chain to be polished. Altogether, the process costs $150 plus a small booking fee, which is a lot less than Cartier’s yellow gold iteration, which retails for over $10,000.

Gittoes was inspired to create the permanent bracelets by a memory of a visit to the Marais in Paris in the 1970s with her aunty, who she recalls was wearing a chain, which was permanently soldered to her wrist. “It was always something that I had in the back of my mind and a concept I thought our Australian clientele would love,” she says.

She was right. Within five hours of announcing the event through the label’s social media channels, appointments for Soldered had sold out. But due to the brevity of the process, the label was also able to invite walk-ins. “The whole process takes about 15 minutes, with the actual soldering lasting about 10 seconds,” says Gittoes.

Originally, the pair had planned to solder gold-wire bangles. But after testing the concept on the Sarah and Sebastian team, they found the flexible movement of the chain was the preferred option. Every member of the Sarah & Sebastian team has since been soldered. “It’s become a somewhat of an emblem for our brand,” says Grynkofki.

Since launching seven years ago, the team has grown to a staff of over 25, including eight jewellers. Gittoes and Grynkofki leave the creation of the jewellery up to these artisans, but remain hands-on when it comes to the design and creation of the samples. “It’s quite cathartic to step away from the operational side of the company and hand-craft a piece of jewellery,” says Grynkofki, who has a degree in goldsmithing from Germany’s Schwäbisch Gmünd. He now works as managing director while Gittoes, who has a Bachelor of Design (Hons) from the University of New South Wales, leads the label’s creative direction.

The pair met while studying abroad at Canada’s Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in 2008. German-born Grynkofki ultimately moved to Australia, where the Sarah & Sebastian label sprouted rather organically, as the pair began making jewellery for friends and a circle of people that Gittoes worked with in the fashion industry. At the time, Gittoes was working at Scanlan Theodore. “We soon started getting interest from stylists and press, that’s when we made the decision to start Sarah & Sebastian,” she says.

Now stocked internationally, including at Net-A-Porter and Lane Crawford, the pair have celebrated remarkable global growth. Australia remains their key market. Despite the international interest, the next Soldered event will happen locally – but whether it will be in Sydney or interstate remains uncertain. Sebastian Grynkofki tells those interested to “watch this space”.

The next Soldered pop-up will commence on May 18. Appointments will be announced on the label’s Facebook and Instagram.