Betony Vernon
{{Short description|American jewelry designer based in Paris}}
{{Infobox fashion designer
|name = Betony Vernon
|image =
|caption =
|birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1968|08|15}}
|birth_place = Tazewell, Virginia
|death_date =
|death_place =
|nationality = American, Italian
|education = Virginia Commonwealth University, Domus Academy
|label_name = {{plainlist|
- B.V. Betony Vernon,
- Paradise Found Fine Erotic Jewelry
}}
|spouse = Barnaba Fornasetti (married 2004–2014)
|awards =
|known_for = Design and sexual anthropology
|occupation = Designer
}}
Betony Vernon (born August 15, 1968) is an American jewelry designer based in Paris.{{cite web|last1=Colman|first1=David|title=Betony Vernon's Guardian Angel|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/25/fashion/jewlery-designer-betony-vernons-guardian-angel.html|work=The New York Times|access-date=29 September 2016|date=August 23, 2013}} She produces luxurious erotic jewelry.{{Cite news|url=http://www.rudemagazine.co.uk/columns/betony-vernon-jewel-tools.php|title=Betony Vernon: Jewel Tools|newspaper=Rude Magazine|access-date=2016-10-12}}
Early life and education
Born in Tazewell, Virginia, Vernon is the third of four daughters. Her mother Ann Dearsley Vernon, was a British civil rights activist and art historian, and her father was an American pilot and inventor.{{cite web|last1=Zahm|first1=Olivier|title=Betony Vernon|url=http://purple.fr/magazine/ss-2007-issue-7/betony-vernon-2/|publisher=purple Magazine|access-date=29 September 2016|date=2007}}
In 1990 she graduated cum laude from Virginia Commonwealth University with a degree in Art History and a double minor in Religious Studies and Goldsmithing.
After graduation, Vernon moved to Florence, Italy, to direct the metal-smithing program at Fuji Studio Art Workshop.{{Cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=927514523996060&id=130669433680577|title=Ana Belle - I studied jewelry techniques here with Betony... {{!}} Facebook|website=www.facebook.com|access-date=2016-10-11}}
In 1992, Vernon developed her first erotic jewelry collection, naming it Sado-Chic.{{Cite web|url=http://www.arcanegallery.com/jewellery/sado-chic-set|title=Sado Chic Set|website=Arcane Gallery|access-date=2016-10-11}}
After 5 years in Florence, she moved to Milan. Here she earned a master's degree in Industrial Design from Domus Academy.{{cite web|title=Betony Vernon|url=http://showstudio.com/contributor/betony_vernon|publisher=Show Studio|access-date=29 September 2016}} At the same time she founded her first design studio “Atelier B.V.” in Milan and she created one-of-a-kind objects for Luisa Via Roma.{{Cite news|url=http://www.luisaviaroma.com/betony+vernon/women/catalog/lang_EN/desid_LMP|title=Betony Vernon - Luisaviaroma.com|last=Luisaviaroma|access-date=2016-10-11}}
Career
In 1995 and 1998 she designed table objects for Florentine silversmith Pampaloni. During that time, she was also appointed as Design Director for the Italian interior design house Fornasetti.{{cite web|url=https://style.time.com/2013/02/13/qa-with-designer-author-and-sex-educator-betony-vernon/|title=Q&A with Designer, Author and Sex Educator Betony Vernon|date=February 13, 2013|publisher=Time|access-date=29 September 2016}}{{Cite web|url=https://ifitshipitshere.blogspot.fr/2010/04/hey-fornasetti-fanatics-more-fun.html|title=Hey Fornasetti Fanatics! More Fun Collaborations & Custom Designs|website=ifitshipitshere.blogspot.fr|access-date=2016-10-12}}
Vernon has collaborated with several fashion designers, including Missoni, Alain Tondowski, Gianfranco Ferré and Jean-Paul Gaultier.{{Cite web|url=http://showstudio.com/collection/jean_paul_gaultier_paris_womenswear_a_w_09/show_report|title=Jean Paul Gaultier @ Paris Womenswear A/W 09|website=showstudio.com|access-date=2016-10-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304061059/http://showstudio.com/collection/jean_paul_gaultier_paris_womenswear_a_w_09/show_report|archive-date=2016-03-04|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://www.nowness.com/story/betony-vernon-sex-design|title=Betony Vernon: Sex & Design|date=November 23, 2012|publisher=Nowness|last1=Hanania|first1=Estelle|access-date=29 September 2016}} In 2006, she designed a neckpiece for Swarovski’s Runway Rocks project that was later used by Lady Gaga for her Paparazzi video.{{cite book|last1=Phoenix|first1=Helia|title=Lady Gaga: Just Dance: The Biography|date=April 8, 2010|publisher=Orion Publishing Group|isbn=978-1409115700|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o104AgAAQBAJ&q=betony+vernon+lady+gaga+paparazzi&pg=PT144}}
In 2006, Vernon worked with Los Angeles-based photographer Jeff Burton in the museum house of Carlo Mollino in Turin, Italy.{{cite web|url=http://purple.fr/magazine/fw-2011-issue-16/casa-museo-carlo-mollino/|title=Casa Museo Carlo Mollino|date=2011|publisher=Purple Magazine|access-date=29 September 2016}}
Vernon made “L’Envol” in 2008, a short video for SHOWstudio and her first collaboration with Nick Knight.{{cite web|title=L'Envol (Take Flight)' by Betony Vernon|url=http://showstudio.com/blog/post/lenvol_take_flight_by_betony_vernon|publisher=Show Studio|access-date=29 September 2016|date=16 April 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161003060525/http://showstudio.com/blog/post/lenvol_take_flight_by_betony_vernon|archive-date=3 October 2016|url-status=dead}} Betony wrote, hosted, and co-produced “The Boudoir” for MTV Italy. The episodes aired on Love Line, a show dedicated to sexual education.{{cite web|url=https://vimeo.com/4007330|title=Le Boudoir di Betony Vernon - MTV Loveline|publisher=Giovanni Consonni|access-date=29 September 2016}}
In November 2012, Vernon designed the Origin Chair, a functional sculpture carved in statuary marble from Monte Altissimo, Italy. It was unveiled in December 2012 at the Triennale Museum of Design and has since traveled to MUDAC - Museum of Design and Contemporary Art, Lausanne.{{cite web|title=Betony's Boudoir|url=http://vmagazine.com/article/betonys-boudoir/|publisher=V Magazine|access-date=29 September 2016|date=January 23, 2013}}{{cite web|url=http://mudac.ch/en/exhibitions/nirvana-les-etranges-formes-du-plaisir/|title=Nirvana - Strange Forms of Pleasure|publisher=Mudac|access-date=29 September 2016}} In November 2015, the work was exhibited in Vernon's carte blanche for the Gewerbemuseum, Winterthur.{{cite web|url=http://gewerbemuseum.ch/en/exhibitions/preview/detailansicht/gmwausstellung/nirvana-wundersame-formen-der-lust/?no_cache=1|title=Nirvana - Strange forms of pleasure|publisher=Gewerbemuseum|access-date=29 September 2016}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.edinburghinternationalfashionfestival.com/eiff_people/betony-vernon/|title=Betony Vernon|last=Festival|first=Edinburgh International Fashion|newspaper=Edinburgh International Fashion Festival 2016|access-date=2016-10-12}}
In 2017, Vernon unveils her Boudoir Box (1999-2000, leather case and sterling silver objects) for the first time to the general public as part of the Medusa exhibition at the City of Paris Museum of Modern Art.{{Cite web|url=http://www.flaunt.com/content/play/the-boudoir-box-betony-vernon-reveals-secret-erotic-tabernacle-after-18-years-and-celebrates-25-years-of-sado-chic?rq=betony%20vernon|title=The Boudoir Box|last=Vernon|first=Betony|website=Flaunt Magazine}}
In her Paris atelier she receives clients for bespoke fittings.Fortini, Amanda. [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/12/t-magazine/design/betony-vernon-paris-apartment.html "A Paris Boudoir Where Everything’s Meant to Be Touched." The New York Times, October 12, 2017.]
Personal life
From 2004 to 2014, Vernon was married to Barnaba Fornasetti, son of Piero Fornasetti. She lives in Paris, France.{{Cite web|url=https://twitter.com/betonyvernon|title=Betony Vernon (@BetonyVernon) {{!}} Twitter|website=twitter.com|access-date=2016-10-19}}
Exhibitions
- 1993 - Primordi, international design, Triennale, Milan
- 1995 - Anni 90, Arte a Milano, Triennale, Milan
- 1999 - Il Classico, Norma e Variazione, Abitare il Tempo, Verona, Italy
- 2003 - Body Craze Selfridges, London
- 2005 - Touch Me, Victoria & Albert Museum, Contemporary Gallery, London
- 2008 - Sex in Design, Design in Sex, Museum of Sex, New York
- 2009 - Red Light Design - Salone del Mobile, Milan
- 2009 - The Fashion Body - Somerset House, London
- 2011 - Alta Rom Alta Moda - Casanatense Library, Rome
- 2012 - Selling Sex - SHOWStudio, London
- 2013 - KAMA - Sex and Design, Triennale Design Museum, Milan
- 2013 - GRASSI Museum of Applied Arts, Leipzig, Germany
- 2015 - Nirvana - Mudac, Lausanne
- 2016 - Nirvana - Gewerbemuseum, Winterthur
- 2016 - Body - Anthropogenicbody, Wroclaw, Poland
- 2017 - Medusa - Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France{{Cite web|url=http://www.mam.paris.fr/en/expositions/exhibitions-medusa|title=MEDUSA - Jewellery and Taboos|website=www.mam.paris.fr|date=19 May 2017 |access-date=2017-07-04}}
Bibliography
- {{cite book | title=The Boudoir Bible: The Uninhibited Sex Guide for Today | publisher=Rizzoli | author=Vernon, Betony | year=2013 | isbn=978-0847840168}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official|http://www.betonyvernon.com/}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vernon, Betony}}
Category:American jewelry designers
Category:American industrial designers
Category:American expatriates in France
Category:People from Tazewell, Virginia
Category:Artists from Virginia
Category:20th-century American artists
Category:20th-century American women artists
Category:21st-century American artists
Category:21st-century American women artists
Category:Virginia Commonwealth University alumni