Stephen Einhorn creates Tomb Raider Pendant
Stephen Einhorn creates Tomb Raider Pendant Necklace
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Stephen Einhorn is the jewellery designer behind the new re-boot of Tomb Raider film Lara Croft character’s bespoke pendant. The necklace is worn throughout the newly released Tomb Raider film by actress Alicia Vikander.
Oscar winner Vikander plays the daughter of an eccentric adventurer who vanished years earlier. Hoping to solve the mystery of her father's disappearance,
Croft embarks on a journey to his last-known destination - a fabled tomb on a mythical island that might be somewhere off the coast of Japan.
Lara must rely on her sharp mind, blind faith and stubborn spirit to venture into the unknown.
The necklace was first seen in the 2013 game reboot, which director Roar Uthaug’s Tomb Raider is largely based on, and according to Tomb Raider comics the pendant was Lara Croft’s first discovery - symbolising her love of her father and of archaeology.
The Brief
The brief for the bespoke necklace which came from the film's costume designer, Colleen Atwood, was very specific. Einhorn made an exact replica of the jade necklace that Lara Croft wears in all the games.
“The challenge here was not the design, but of how to make a specifically coloured carved jade necklace in an incredibly short time. Not only is it very difficult to source a real and suitably large coloured piece of jade, but then there is the business of carving it in less than two weeks - and making four identical pieces. The costume designer Coleen Atwood, wanted the jade to be a very specific colour with interesting detail.
Because of the time scale we actually had to replicate some jade-like material, and then carve it. There was no other way to create what Coleen wanted in time. The first pendants were sent for screen-testing and it was found that they needed more weight in order for them to work well in the scenes being filmed. The character of Lara Croft is very physical, she jumps around all over the place doing crazy stunts. The necklace we made was too light and kept moving. In order to solve this, I made the next two carved pendants in two halves that were hollowed out to make a cavity that I filled with a high-density metal. This was then invisibly sealed inside the pendant to make the finished item heavier. These heavier pendants were very successful”
said Stephen.
The film project was not Einhorn first association with movies. His jewellery has also featured in Hollywood films including Allied, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Snow White & The Huntsman and Maleficent.
Pieces have also been worn by leading actors, models and musicians, including Cate Blanchett, Johnny Depp, Keira Knightly, Brad Pitt and Charlize Theron.
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