Local jewellery label Pyrrha teams with British Museum for special women's justice–themed talisman

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      Vancouver-based jewellery line Pyrrha has partnered with the British Museum to craft a talisman that champions the rights and freedoms of women.

      Dubbed Votes for Women, the talisman features Lady Justice riding a chariot and while holding a flag that reads “Votes for Women” in one hand and balance scales in the other. It’s inspired by a lithograph by English painter and etcher Theordore Blake Wirgman, which touches on themes of justice, independence, and free speech during the women’s suffrage movement.

      Crafted at some point between 1863 to 1921, Wirgman’s print is one of the curated pieces from the British Museum’s latest exhibition, I Object: Ian Hislop’s Search for Dissent, which recounts history through the eyes of the marginalized and forgotten.

      “We were extremely honoured when the Museum invited us to explore its archives for design inspiration,” Danielle and Wade Papin, founders and designers at Pyrrha, said in a press statement. “We have spent decades studying the imagery and symbolism of the 19th and 20th century, so this was an exciting experience for us. We were especially drawn to objects depicting the suffrage movement—the Pyrrha team is mostly female, so the strong themes and imagery of Wirgman’s lithograph really resonated.”

      The Pyrrha x British Museum Votes For Women talisman retails for $198 online. It’s handcrafted at Pyrrha’s Mount Pleasant studio using time-honoured, Old World techniques and cast in reclaimed sterling silver or bronze. The isn’t the first high-profile collab for the beloved and locally founded brand. In 2014, the Papins designed a series of Games of Throne–themed talismans for television network HBO.

      Follow Lucy Lau on Twitter @lucylau.

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