Kuiper Relics: Otherworldly by Design. A Q&A with James Abdow
Aerospace aluminum, precise mechanical structures, and pearls: James Abdow brings an unexpected combination of materials and ideas to jewelry. The founder of Kuiper Relics trained as a mechanical engineer and worked in industries where technical accuracy was essential. Creating his own brand gave him the freedom to put that knowledge at the service of his imagination.
What draws me to his work is the tension between its disciplined construction and the unfamiliar worlds it suggests. There is something cinematic about these pieces, as though they belong to a character whose story we have yet to discover. His VARDA collection adds another intriguing dimension: the attraction of something that also signals danger. In our conversation, James shares the science fiction references behind his aesthetic, explains his distinctive material choices, and considers a question I was particularly curious to ask: can you engineer beauty?
You describe yourself as an “engineer-turned-artist.” Could you tell us a little about your background?
I earned my degree in Mechanical Engineering, hoping this could lead toward product design. After university I worked in semiconductor manufacturing, research equipment design, and valves for the nuclear industry. I learned a lot about the manufacturing technologies and materials used in these fields. I wanted to innovate and improve on the products and processes, but that was only met with resistance. After searching and searching, hoping to find a job that will grant me just a little creative freedom, I decided to form my own jewelry and accessories brand, where I could give myself the complete, unbridled artistic liberty I truly craved.
Kuiper Relics jewelry is futuristic and otherworldly. There’s precision, disciplined construction, and order. What inspired this style?
One of my greatest sources of inspiration is the intersection between art and popular science fiction. Artists and designers who have worked with film-makers to create entire worlds with their own distinct identities and aesthetics, such as H.R. Giger’s work on Alien, or Syd Mead’s world-building art for Blade Runner. In a more recent example, Villeneuve’s Dunefeatures such striking fashion and architecture. We often focus on actors and directors, but such incredible artistry goes into designing the fashion, technologies, architecture, and vehicles that bring fictional worlds to life.
The selection of materials and gemstones in your jewelry is very distinctive. Which metals and stones do you use?
The main components are 7075-T6 aluminum. It is a lightweight yet exceptionally strong alloy, heavily used in air and spacecraft structures. It can be CNC machined with very exact results, for the creation of intricate sculptural-mechanical design elements, while its lightness allows my pieces to take on expansive forms which would be too heavy to wear in a more traditional material.
For stones, I like to use moissanite for its brilliance and durability, and its unique history: it was first discovered in meteorite craters, and for a time geologists believed that all moissanite came from outer space. Pearls are also featured in my jewelry, I love their natural variation and I see their biological origin working in juxtaposition with the precise construction of my pieces.
In the VARDA collection, you refer to aposematism. Could you explain what it is and how you translated this phenomenon into jewelry?
Imagine you’re in nature, something catches your eye, its striking colors and shapes contrast sharply from their surroundings. You might not be sure of what you saw, but it has an arresting effect; your heart jumps and your body tenses. This is the power of aposematism, nature’s vibrant way of warning “you need to be cautious here!”
I wanted to invoke that same feeling of coming face to face with something that is potentially dangerous, yet striking to behold. Pointed and angular, elongated forms draw the eye along each shimming red contour, while darker elements add regions of contrast. VARDA’s aura is fiery and aggressive, while staying true to Kuiper Relics’ minimal-futuristic aesthetic; every angle, every measurement and proportion was considered and chosen with intention.
Can you engineer beauty? What does beauty actually mean to you?
Beauty grips the viewer and invokes a deeply powerful feeling; that feeling could be a sense of reverence, longing, wonder, or even alarm. I believe beauty can manifest in countless different ways, both emergent and intentional. I’m not sure you can engineer beauty, but you can design or create beauty, and applying an engineering approach is vital to the actualization of certain designs.
