"Feel free to adorn¹ yourself with yourself," says Lucie Majerus, a graduate student at the Design Academy Eindhoven. 

 

“你可以用自身的东西装饰自己。”艾恩德霍芬设计学院的毕业生露西·马洁鲁说。
 

 

For that is exactly what Majerus does with the jewellery she creates from her own teeth. 

 

Her jewellery collection, 'Human Ivory', was created as an alternative to elephant ivory. 

 

"Why do we almost extinguish elephants for the sake of their precious teeth? Why don't we value other teeth as well? When I lost my own wisdom teeth, I kept them and came up with the idea of Human Ivory," Majerus explained to The Independent. 

 

"I want to twist our perspective on valuable materials and reconsider conventional preciousness. In opposition² to materialistic³ values, 'Human Ivory' acts metaphorically⁴ for having our own value in ourselves." 

 

She presented the collection, which includes earrings⁵, cuff⁶ links, brooches and rings, at the Graduation Show of the Design Academy Eindhoven during Dutch Design Week. Reaction, however, has been mixed. 

 

"Surprisingly, most people weren't creeped out by the sight of the jewellery, but really like the idea to use our own ivory instead of elephant ivory," she says. On social media though, Majerus admits that not everyone has been keen on the idea. 

 

She thinks the reason for some people's disgust might be that: "Lost adult teeth directly link to a painful extraction experience and decay, something we don't want to face. But by the careful transformation⁷ of smoothening of the tooth, a possible disgust association of a human tooth evolves into attraction and beauty." 

 

Majerus explains that whilst teeth are the hardest part of the human body, they're also softer than stones. And as they're so small, a lot of patience and attention to detail is required to work with them. 

 

She uses all adult teeth - molars are big enough to make pearl shapes and longer incisors are better for drop-shaped gems⁸. All the teeth are cleaned in bleach⁹ before being polished, and if a tooth has a hole, Marjerus repairs it with white filler just like a dentist.

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