Concrete and gold: an ancestral technique reinvented

The 23-carat gold leaf is extremely fine. Handling it is a challenge in itself. It is so light that it can crumple at the slightest breath. It clings to the slightest touch, tears, and flies away. You have to work calmly, sometimes even holding your breath. Working with this material requires precise and patient expertise. You don't set it down; you invite it in.

On the pieces inthe Luna collection of Icy Mouse concrete jewelry, gold is deposited on concrete that has been previously sanded by hand, until the finest grains of sand embedded in the material emerge. This subtle, almost mineral texture captures the light differently at each angle. It is on this living relief that the gold leaf is applied, by delicate pressure, with a brush or finger, depending on the shape of the jewelry.

Every irregularity, every fragment, every shine is intentional. Gold does not cover: it highlights, it reveals.

This choice to marry pure gold with raw, modest concrete is no accident. It reflects a desire to go beyond the classic hierarchies of materials. One evokes nobility, luxury, and tradition; the other, the urban, the functional, the forgotten. Together, they create a poetic dialogue: the gold illuminates the roughness of the concrete, and the concrete gives the gold a solid, earthy, and contemporary foundation.