Customer Reviews

A World of Bracelets

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a breathtaking, beyond-beautiful book of ethnic bracelets. If you're a jewlery artist, you will gain a tremendous amount of inspiration from this coffee-table (NOT a how-to) book. I highly recommend it.

This is a gorgeous book that will delight and inspire. The photos are beautiful and the accompanying captions, located in the back of the book, provide a good background on each piece. I recommend this entire series very highly (bracelets, rings, earrings, necklaces).

Over the past years one can see a rising amount of publications dedicated to tribal art (primitive / ethnographic art) in many different ways. Books which intention is a scientific one and books which would like to attract regular (not already attracted to tribal arts) readers.
Even if the scientific books are something very helpfull for scholars, dealers, collectors and any other "hard core" enthusiats, the mostly doesn't attract general public too much.
Books which are made for many people mostly lack certain important information or doesn't always give very accurate or exact descriptions like all of the books from this serie (World of Rings/Necklaces/Belts...).
This sometimes inaccuracy and the little complicated way that you always have to go to the end of the book to read the captions belongig to the pictures is the biggest (if so, because it always depends very much on the reader) problem with this book
BUT
thats the only and for myself rather minor mistake.

On the other hand if you look through the book (as well as the others) you have a marvellous/wonderfull/phantastic view on a world of wonders.
Probably anybody will be surprised by the variations of a single theme. What people all over the world saw as a bracelet is sometimes unbelievable.
The book shows excellent pictures of pieces in very high quality; everything in color and displayed in a very well designed way which attracts the eye a lot.

Personally i think the most important thing is to SEE as much as possible (in quantity as well as in quality) which is very easily done with this book.
There hasn't been any kind of publication in this way ever before, hence i reccomend that if you like ethnic jewellry you will like this book.

Because of the problem mentioned above and the fact that if its called "world" of bracelets but leaves the Americas to a minimum (like the other books do as well - i would reccomend Mrs. Ghysels to collect a little more of the Americas) i can't rate it with 5 stars but with 4.

As dealer and collector of ethnographic arts from Africa I've found this book invaluable. And Africa is but one of this volume's beautifully photographed sections. Tribal groups around the world have developed bracelets- the most basic of human adornments- in stunning variety to express their ethnic identity. Although brief on text this book covers a lot of ground in celebrating and identifying the diversity.