Antique junkie, musicophile, and adventurist.
Since 2008, Mark Armstrong Pettigrew has worked with Rufus Wainwright on the singer-songwriter’s world tours. In every city played, he makes time to visit flea markets, antique fairs, and estate sales, from which he accumulates a trove of handsome charms, rustic bits, and odd n sods from 5 continents, 30 countries and almost 150 cities. Eventually, they started to appear on chains around his neck, a travelogue of sorts that document some of the most amazing times in his life.
Each of these original pieces is a vignette of art and history: at once melancholy and romantic, edgy and sexy, masculine yet sensitive – and like life, no two necklaces are the same, each standing as a unique testament to the lives they previously lived. They have all made their own journey, gathering a history, which continues on as they cross paths with their new adventurist.
Realizing that the resource for the perfect charms would be finite, Mark turned to molding original designs. Always a storyteller, he wanted to continue in the theme established by his initial work. His collection ‘in all the wrong places’ is a series of anatomical hearts inspired by ex-boyfriends, passionate affairs, and random flings; 'talk to me like the sea' is an homage to the ghost fishing villages of his childhood home in Newfoundland; 'weapon of choice' is a collective hug to the arsenal of musicians who have provided the soundtrack to his life, while 'Indian summer' is a manifestation of a spirit animal reading in which he partook and the creatures that appeared to him.
Considering that his initials spell ‘map’ Mark Armstrong Pettigrew may have been destined to be a globe-trotter. a self-professed old-soul, Mark is a modern-day renaissance man; educated in literature and psychology, trained in anatomy and fitness, and in tune with design and esthetic. He was raised on the beautifully rugged island of Newfoundland – against the wind and ice, under the rain and fog, in a place that is equal parts isolated and vibrant. Perhaps it was growing up in St. john’s, the oldest city in North America, that provided the blueprint for Mark’s fascination with all things antiquated. Upon graduation from university, Mark skipped convocation to speed his studies as a student of the world and moved to London. After 3 years, he moved to New York City, a place that always seemed like home. He has failed miserably at becoming a realist and continues in the illusive search of self.
New York, New York
