Toteme 'Thorns by Guido Mocafico' Jewelery 2024 Ad Campaign

Review of Toteme ‘Thorns by Guido Mocafico’ Jewelry 2024 Ad Campaign by Photographer Guido Mocafico Photographer

Toteme celebrates the launch of its latest jewelry collection with “Thorns by Guido Mocafico,” a stunning series of photographs by the Italian master of still-life photography.

The Stockholm-based brand’s second jewelry collection introduces white gold into its fine jewelry lineup, sculpting the material into exacting and elegant shapes that extend its signature take on subtly soulful minimalism.

Mocafico captures these pieces against a series of desert and succulent plants, including teasel, acacia, aloe marothii and cow’s horn plant. The photographer’s rich black-and-white shots gorgeously draw out the sculptural, hostile beauty of these thorny wonders that survive and thrive in harsh climates. The delicate chains and sculptural curves of the collection lend another dimension of textural and formal depth, creating an impactful visual dialogue and drawing out a new sense of danger to Toteme’s minimalist exactitude.

Speaking to his excitement at the collaboration, Toteme co-founder Karl Lindman said, “I’ve long been an admirer of Guido Mocafico’s legendary work and have been looking for the right project to begin an open dialogue. His ability to recontextualize the everyday objects we often overlook is extraordinary, and his work shows the true sculptural supremacy of nature. There’s a tension to these images that I love, and which is unmistakably Toteme.”

The collaboration is indeed a very fitting continuation of Toteme’s creative world, but at the same time the uniqueness and compositional cleverness of the campaign imagery feels like a welcome and exciting surprise from a brand that tends toward simple, lookbook-like campaign imagery. Furthermore, in a smart move that extends the campaign’s reach and sense of artistry, the photographs will be on display at London’s London’s 9 Cork Street Gallery from November 21 through November 23.