To Die For

This fragile set of jewellery, created by designer Paola Frusteri in collaboration with Enrico Rossi, a Genoa professional glass blower, contains a modest yet deadly quantity of pure sulphuric acid (H2SO4). The Teflon and the Pyrex, of which the base and the jewellery are made, are the sole materials that remain completely refractory to the highly corrosive action of the acid.

The preciousness of these objects (necklace, bracelet and ring) —whose material value does not exceed a single US dollar— lies exclusively in the attribution of symbolic value and in the extreme danger that their use implies.
Thus they correspond to all those features that make an authentic piece of
jewellery an object of desire: rarity, beauty, and the danger that comes from owning it.

Blown pyrex, sulphuric acid 98%, base in teflon
45 x 30 x 10 cm
Photos by FBM Studio, Flex
Courtesy collection Di Gropello, Rome
Tempo, MoMA, New York, 2002 – Strangers/Etrangers, PS1, New York, 2001 – Body Proxy, Helmhaus, Zurich, 2004