MICKAEL KRA. JEWELLERY BETWEEN PARIS GLAMOUR AND AFRICAN TRADITION,

His Ashanti creations in gold for Reine Poukou catapulted Mickael Kra from New York ? where he had graduated from the Parsons School of Design ? to a breakthrough on the Paris fashion scene. He was soon much in demand as a designer for such doyens of haute couture as Louis Feraud, Pierre Balmain, Jean-Louis Scherrer, Rene Mancini, Alphadi and Katoucha. Kra is today one of the most important jewellery designers worldwide. In his personal haute couture collections, Kra works with the contrast between the sensuous quality of silver, melted glass, bauxite and terracotta and the beauty of the human skin. Sumptuous creations evocative of luxury, exoticism and eroticism emerge in the charged field between Parisian glamour and African tradition. Kra (whose father is African and his mother French) has recently been working on a collection called ?Pearls of the Kalahari? (ostrich-egg shells, terracotta and leather). The ravishing result is luxurious neck, arm and head jewellery, made in limited editions under his close supervision by Bushman women in Namibia: an excellent example of productive global co-operation. Book is as new.