27 MOLLYS And Crop Circles
“No reason at all. It sounded cool and fun, and it made me laugh” was Brent Paye’s response when I asked the meaning behind the intriguing name 27 MOLLYS. Half expecting some crazy story about a night of fatally dangerous drug intake and a moment of pure creativity and clarity, his answer seemed more sincere and in turn made me laugh.
27 MOLLYS is a jewellery line that consists of a range of silver “dripping studs” that loosely resemble flowers and hoops that sport clean “crop circles”. Brent had always been creative. Spending most of his days working in a clothing store and styling fashion shoots with girlfriend Nahrin Zaya (@Nahrinz) he also regularly works with photographer Russell Kleyn. His jewellery had sparked from a frustration of wanting to wear jewellery but not being able to afford it or find much choice for men. With names like Memo,Fuck Cancer and Constantly Hating the pieces are extremely personal and are designed and hand made by Brent in his room. Originally from Cape Town Brent moved to Wellington, New Zealand with his family when his dad got a job there in 2004. Brent describes coming back to The Mother City as “mad fun” and visits every few years or so.
In the last week of Brent’s recent visit to Cape Town we decided to shoot in Woodstock with model Lenina Parks in the 28 degrees heat. Brent was so intrigued by the quaint and colourful houses often remarking that there wasn’t anything like that in New Zealand. As we walked from block to block Brent could immediately read and recognise the rich history but was juxtaposed by the rapid gentrification as fancy glass houses stood garishly next to decrepit and faintly painted cottages.
When asked how he would describe Cape Town’s creative scene to Wellington’s Brent explained that: “Both places have always had a creative vibe and are more recently being recognised on an international level. There are more people in Cape Town so there are more opportunities available. New Zealand is a lot smaller and the beauty of that is that it's easier to link with like minded people and do fun shit. Both have a new fresh scene happening at the moment which is dope and even more fun for me to be a part of both”.
So what’s next for Brent and 27 MOLLYS I asked?, “More fun shit. More fly shit” was his response.
You can order Brent’s jewellery from his instagram @27mollys
Credits:
Photography & Art Direction: Jabu Nadia Newman @intellectualangel
Styling and all original jewellery: Brent Paye @27mollys
Model: Lenina Parks @mr_lenin.a
Photography Assistant: Kayla Macqueen
Special Thanks: Bevin and Jolleen Paye