Dezeen Magazine

Wear a representation of your favourite narcotic around your neck

These necklaces by Canadian studio Ahora Silhouettes display the molecular structures of drugs, allowing the wearer to accessorise with the illicit substance of their choice (+ slideshow).

Designer Drugs By Aroha Silhouettes
Overdose necklace

The Designer Drugs collection by Ahora Silhouettes includes a range of six narcotics, from stimulants such as dopamine and LSD to everyday fuels like caffeine.

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Tripping balls necklace

"The concept behind Designer Drugs is one of hedonism, indulgence and over-the-top debauchery where, in a fantasy laboratory, both legal and illicit molecular hybrids are created not to be ingested, but worn," said Ahora Silhouettes founder Tania Hennessy.

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Overdose necklace

The drugs are represented by simplified representations of their molecular structures, sometimes in combinations with one another.

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Tripping Balls necklace

"Creating the necklaces for Designer Drugs was kind of like experimenting with complicated little puzzle pieces to find the perfect eye-catching wearable combinations," Hennessy told Dezeen. "The individual drug molecules accurately represent their unique molecular structures and were then combined to create visually arresting super molecules."

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Tripping Balls necklace

Molecules and chemical bonds of caffeine and nicotine are paired up in the Coffee and Cigarettes piece.

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Coffee and Cigarettes necklace

Other designs in the series are named Spliff, Candy Flipping, Speedball and Tripping Balls. The Overdose necklace is an amalgamation of all of these patterns into one larger form.

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Candy Flipping necklace

Hennessy told us that she designed the graphics using Adobe Illustrator: "I created a set of rules in Adobe Illustrator to allow me to design pieces that worked within the limitations of the material yet still allowed them to be intricately cut into strong jewellery pieces."

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Spliff necklace

The stainless steel pendants are finished with either a matte black powder coating with a gun-metal chain or uncoated with a silver-plated chain.

Here's the text sent to us by Hennessy:


First came Molecular Addictions and now, in Aroha Silhouettes' latest Designer Drugs Collection, the roof is blown clean off the lab with pieces sure to make you feel like you're hallucinating. Imagine an alternate reality where unabashed profligacy and depravity could exist without the four day hangover or Breaking Bad consequences.

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Spliff necklace

The concept behind Designer Drugs is one of hedonism, indulgence and over-the-top debauchery where, in a "fantasy laboratory", both legal and illicit molecular hybrids are created not to be ingested, but worn.

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Speedball necklace

Bringing together the "wearable vices" from the original Molecular Addictions collection and synthesising them to create visually arresting SuperMolecules, the six necklaces comprising Designer Drugs represent a collection of pieces even more stunning than their derivatives.

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Candy Flipping necklace

From the delicate simplicity of Spliff, to Candy Flipping and Coffee and Cigarettes' understated intricacy, to the strikingly exquisite Overdose statement necklace, each of these unapologetically bold pieces create such a delicious piece of eye-catching neck candy, you're guaranteed to turn every head you pass.

Coffee and Cigarettes necklace_Designer Drugs By Aroha Silhouettes
Coffee and Cigarettes necklace

This fantastical new collection lets you enjoy a spectacular trip in a way that leaves a lasting impression without the icky flashbacks.