Daniel Arsham Is Tiffany & Co.'s Lucky Penny (EXCLUSIVE)
Daniel Arsham is as much a face of modern-day Tiffany & Co. as any of its other famous friends, a perpetual partner of the house both in presence and in visibility. A bespoke Arsham statue graced the entrance of Tiffany's historic Saatchi Gallery exhibit, for instance, and another is given permanent pride of place within Tiffany's remodeled Fifth Avenue flagship.
Daniel Arsham and Tiffany's latest partnership is therefore best viewed as a tightening of the ties that bind, picking up on the cues that make the duo so well suited.
To Highsnobiety, Arsham describes his latest Tiffany project as "a continuation of" the duo's collaborative legacy, which officially began in 2021 with an eroded Blue Box and continued with endeavors as disparate as artist toolboxes, gilded Poké Balls, and reconfigured Tiffany bracelets.
But this one's even more of a throwback.
The Arsham Studio for Tiffany & Co. Bronze Eroded Penny Vessel is the centerpiece of the duo's 2025 reunion, an artful history lesson if there ever was one.
Back in 1885, a few years after Louis Comfort Tiffany redecorated the White House for President Chester Arthur, Tiffany redesigned the United States' Great Seal, the eagle symbol that appeared on the rear of American currency. (As if anyone needed further proof that Tiffany is an American institution.)
Arsham, meanwhile, has long held an interest in uplifting the quotidian, including seemingly ordinary objects like the penny. His Study of the Eroded Penny predates this Tiffany partnership by over a decade. But it proves the bond between artist and fashion house, a pair that was perhaps destined to meet.
"I again went back into the archives and found that Tiffany had worked on some currency projects for the US mint in the 19th century," Arsham tells Highsnobiety. "This was the inspiration for the penny." And what a moment to focus on the most humble piece of American money!
Not that Arsham's new Tiffany penny-shaped sculptures are humble, though. Inside the 39 individually "patinated bronze vessels," as Tiffany says in its release, there lies an exclusive Tiffany & Arsham Studio HardWear necklace.
They're all made of 18k white gold and set with 1,000 diamonds — over six carats — and more than 500 tsavorites, a subtle inclination both towards Arsham Studio's preferred green hue and the patina'd bronze pennies. The design is otherwise classic Tiffany HardWear, down to the elegantly curvaceous links, though it too is historic: The inspiration was a necklace from the Tiffancy archives circa 1962.
A two-piece partnership suitable for the man who's been there for every step of Tiffany's modern transformation, himself symbolic of the house's benevolent future.
"With a lot of my life outlook and the way that I think about things, I’m always trying to manifest luck in my work," Arsham says. "The idea of a lucky penny resonated with me."
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