MARGARET SOLOW
LETTING THE STONE LEAD
There’s something quite disarming about the work of Margaret Solow. At first glance, it can feel almost too simple. A single stone, a fine cord, very little else. But the longer you sit with it, the more you realise how considered that restraint really is.
Solow has built her entire practice around the idea of reduction. Not minimalism for the sake of aesthetics, but a deliberate stripping back of everything that isn’t essential. What’s left is jewellery that feels quiet, personal, and completely unforced. At the centre of her work are the stones themselves. Not perfect, calibrated gems, but natural materials with inclusions, irregularities, and subtle shifts in colour. They’re chosen for feeling as much as appearance.
Rather than enclosing them in heavy settings, Solow suspends these stones on fine nylon cord. It’s a decision that changes everything. Without the visual weight of metal, the stone feels lighter, almost like it’s floating. There’s nothing to distract from it, no hierarchy imposed between material and design.
It also shifts how the piece is worn.
These aren’t jewels that sit formally on the body. They move with you, soften with wear, and become part of your everyday without needing to be considered.
There’s a long-standing association between fine jewellery and permanence. Weight, polish, perfection. Solow gently pushes against that.
Her work leans into imperfection. Stones are left as they are, with all their natural inconsistencies. The cord introduces a softness that traditional gold chains don’t have. Even the scale is intentionally restrained. What emerges is a different kind of luxury. One that feels less about status and more about connection. Pieces that don’t announce themselves, but stay with you. It’s a way of thinking that feels particularly relevant now. As more people move towards jewellery with meaning, origin, and longevity, her approach reads as instinctive rather than reactive.
There’s also a clear respect for materials running through the work. Solow uses non-conflict gemstones and works with natural stones wherever possible. The making process is kept close and considered, with each piece assembled by hand.
Nothing is overworked. Nothing is hidden.
That sense of honesty carries through to the finished pieces. You can see what they are immediately, and that transparency becomes part of their appeal.
What’s interesting is how her pieces behave over time. They don’t demand attention, but they become constants. Something you reach for without thinking.
They layer easily, sit alongside other pieces without competing, and feel just as natural worn alone. There’s a kind of effortlessness to them that’s difficult to manufacture. In many ways, they sit closer to how people are wearing jewellery now. Less fixed, less formal, more intuitive.
Margaret Solow’s work has had a wider impact than it might first appear. That barely-there gemstone on a cord has become a familiar visual language, but she was doing it long before it filtered into the mainstream. What she offers is a reminder that jewellery doesn’t need to be complicated to be meaningful. Sometimes, the most powerful pieces are the ones that feel almost inevitable.
Stripped back to their essence, they leave just enough space for the wearer to bring their own story to it.
