Kelly Rakowski’s “Life With Max Lamb Prism”

Here at Sight Unseen, we’re a bit like a college application — fixated on versatility, and in awe of anyone who’s proven themselves equally gifted across a spectrum of interests and activities. So it’s no wonder we became fast friends with someone like Kelly Rakowski, who studied graphics, worked as a book designer for Todd Oldham for five years, started a blog revolving around her obsession with archival textiles, and now makes weavings, housewares, and jewelry as one half of the label New Friends. She’s an artist, a designer, and a stylist, and when we asked her to art-direct a special editorial featuring Max Lamb’s Prism Bangle — commissioned by us for the Sight Unseen Shop — it was no surprise that she understood our vision immediately. Max’s bangle, after all, is way more than just a bangle; it began life as a sculptural object and was adapted for us to wearable proportions, but it still feels just as at home on a desk as it does around your wrist or hanging from your neck. For this slideshow, Rakowski imagined several creative uses for the Prism’s four discrete parts, from spaghetti dosing to cookie-cutting, then photographed her ideas in action.

“My concept for this project was to turn the bangle into something more useful, so I decided to show it as an everyday object that could be employed around the house in ways you might not have thought of before,” she says. “The images are a riff on the still life aesthetic that’s all over the internet right now; they contrast the metallic silver of the Prism with a series of bright colors, bringing it all alive with some fruits, vegetables, and plants. You can turn the Prism into a stencil or a cookie cutter — using a shape to make more shapes — and I’ve also worn it as a bracelet. But it looks just as beautiful as a solid object, sitting without purpose on my shelf, which is where I keep it now.” To discover your own ways of enjoying Lamb’s Prism Bangle, pick one up today in the Sight Unseen Shop!