Jeremy May’s Literary Jewellery
Elena Lazzarini
Jeremy May
Jeremy May is a landscape architect born in Suffolk, UK. In 2007 he created his first ring inspired by literature, capturing the beauty of paper through a unique laminating process. Two years later, his handmade creations became known as stunning literary jewellery. To date, his work has been presented in London, Paris, Osaka, Athens, Hamburg and Saint Petersburg. Jeremy is currently working on private commissions and on creating collections of jewels that galleries around the world will present in exhibitions.
Literary Jewellery
Each book that Jeremy May transforms has a history: someone bought it, read it, wrote on it, sold it on, or gave it as a gift.
May selects from the book a distinct quote that directly inspires him to create the jewel. After that, he chooses which pages to take from the book to create the “wearable narrative”. Obviously, no two pieces are the same, and Jeremy May makes each one for the person who wears it. He creates the literary jewellery by layering hundreds of sheets of paper together, then polishing them to a high gloss finish. In the end, he places each finished piece back into the space left behind.
What makes each piece extraordinary is what lies beneath the surface. In fact, text and images pass all the way through the object, only exposed at the edges, offering a quiet, tantalizing glimpse of the story within. This is what gives literary jewellery its captivating appeal.
The result is a beautiful jewel that is more than just a recycled material, it is a piece of art that brings together simplicity, traditional craft, and care. Jeremy May turns each piece into something that connects thought, words, and meaning in a truly unique way. Furthermore, literary jewellery allows literature to live on beyond the page. In May’s hands, literature does not end on the page. It is worn, carried, and kept close.
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emotional intelligence, she approaches culture as something to be felt as much as understood, moving fluidly between fashion, music, and the subtle codes that define identity across borders. At IRK, this instinct becomes editorial language, where curiosity is not surface-level but immersive, always searching for what sits beneath aesthetics.
With a background in e-commerce, Elena developed her understanding of digital strategy within a small, human-centered company, working closely alongside neurodivergent teams. The experience shaped her approach to communication and storytelling, grounding it in inclusivity, adaptability, and attention to nuance. These values inform her work at IRK, where content is not only created, but carefully considered in how it connects, resonates, and includes.
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