‘Yes, I’m morbid’: Jeweller uses human remains including TEETH to make rings and necklaces for grieving loved ones – but there was one request she had to refuse
- Jacqui Williams, 29, creates jewellery using the remains of dead people
- Her business, Grave Metallum Jewellery, sells pieces made with teeth and ashes
- The Melbourne woman wants to help people deal with their grief and loss
- She has been requested to use an IUD in a piece and the bullet that killed a man
A jeweller is using the remains of dead people – including teeth and hair – to create rings and necklaces for their grieving families.
Jacqui Williams, 29, owns Grave Metallum Jewellery, which sells handcrafted commemorative pieces to help people deal the loss of loved ones.
All pieces are created in her Melbourne studio.
Ms Williams, who said she had always been drawn to the ‘morbid’ side of life even as a child, revealed some of the stranger requests her customers had made.
‘I [was asked to use] an IUD in a pieces of jewellery, in which I did decline due to it being plastic, and turning the bullet casing, from the bullet that a client’s grandfather shot himself with into a piece of jewellery,’ Ms Williams said.
The professional goldsmith first became interested in the grieving process when she lost her best friend a few years ago.
Ms Williams is a strong believer that loss is easier to deal with when shared.
‘I do this work because I want to help people deal with their grief and loss as it’s something that is guaranteed for every living thing,’ Ms Williams said.
The Grave Metallum website says that it ‘became apparent that our modern culture has grown to become more fearful of the only thing guaranteed in life’.
‘I stumbled across a community of like minded people and collectors of curiosities and oddities, people who not only wanted to talk about death, but who wanted to collect specimens and curiosities and give another life to things that once were,’ she said.
The custom pieces of jewellery can take up to eight weeks to create, and prices range from $350 to upwards of $10,000.
The jeweller plans to continue her profession, until the pieces are accepted as normal, with the businesses’ website stating.
‘With the dream of erasing the taboo around death and oddities, and the intention to turn morbid curiosities into elegant adornments, I plan to persevere in my ambition to provide quality custom made jewellery and heirlooms,’ Ms Williams wrote on her website. https://gravemetallumjewellery.com/
