Stone. Jade. Bone. Wood. Amber.

These are the raw materials listed on the website of Copenhagen jewellery makers Gerda and Nikolai Monies, along with some warnings for the faint-hearted: "each piece is regarded as a sculpture - and a daring one at that" and "in Gerda's designs there is no room for modesty".

Mother of pearl and water buffalo horn are two more exotic materials that should be added to the list. "Oversized" is one word often used to describe the range of Monies necklaces, bracelets and rings. Among the trademarks are giant wooden bracelets and neck-pieces featuring voluminous white plumage.

This is wearable art, worn by women who don't mind attracting more than the normal amount of attention. One Melbourne collector, who has been wearing Monies for more than 10 years, says it's amazing how much comment the jewellery elicits from strangers - mostly positive, she adds.

There are obvious influences from the tribal jewellery of Africa and South America, apparent enough for someone to describe this work as "recreated history". Gerda was trained as a gold and silversmith in Denmark so the workmanship is superb. Pieces are designed to be displayed as sculpture when not worn. Many collectors hang items on the wall or display them prominently on a stand or ethnographic head.

Although this Danish husband-and-wife team began creating jewellery in the late 1970s, the Monies label has only recently become a global phenomenon.

In June 2006 a flagship Monies store was established on the waterfront at Copenhagen and a network of dealers around the world now sell it.

There's also a thriving trade on the internet, although serious collectors say pieces should be personally inspected before being bought. They would think twice, for example, about snapping up the bone and horn Monies necklace currently being offered for $US85 that, according to the description, has some minor chipping.

In most cases collectors are just as happy to buy the new, unchipped items released twice a year by Monies. This is a rare collectable that can be bought new. There's little difference in style between the old and the new and little way of dating them in any case. In most cases Gerda Monies doesn't sign her pieces, believing it to be unnecessary to identify them. Cheap imitations have been made but these are easy to pick.

The most prized of Monies pieces are those that come from the Unique collection; genuine one-offs designed by Gerda and Nikolai and made in the studio by their team of artisans. They also produce a range of more affordable limited editions, including some extraordinary earrings. These are often crafted from wood and are mostly clip-ons, another Monies trademark.

Gerda's work has already been the subject of a retrospective at the Museum of Art and Design in Copenhagen. This is a rare honour for a living artist and pieces from her early period have doubled or tripled in value if they can be found.

This especially applies to pieces featuring amber, the millions-of-years-old pieces of fossilised resin mostly found in the Baltic Sea region. Once commonly found washed up on the shore, the bigger pieces of amber are now a scarce commodity and keenly sought after. Amber works by Monies can be worth up to $10,000 for new pieces and more for classic items. In the case of Monies, anything older than 10 years is usually described as vintage.

The evaluation of work as recent as this poses problems for the aspiring collector.

"Firstly Gerda Monies started to produce art wear jewellery circa 1978," says collector and gallery owner Eva Yencken. "We do not have a great length of time to assess the value. It takes the design community, the museum curators, the collectors some years to assess what in the range is most collectable. In my case I have spent a long time assessing design. It is a matter of trust, where the collector has to trust my judgment on the matter. I would only buy pieces for the gallery which I consider collectable."

Monies jewellery is also available from Alistair Trung in Sydney.

My collection

Eva Yencken, who has owned Gallery Freya in Melbourne for 25 years, has been a collector of Monies jewellery since 1978.

She was a curator at the Nordic Museum in Stockholm in the early 1970s.

Part of her job was to choose outstanding contemporary design for the museum, so when she stumbled upon the first Monies design studio in Copenhagen she was instantly impressed. One of her first purchases was a pair of their distinctive clip-on earrings. "I've worn a pair every day ever since," she says.

In the mid-'70s Eva came to Melbourne as assistant trade commissioner. It was a one-year posting but she decided to stay and work with museums and design.

This led to her setting up Gallery Freya, a concept gallery now located in the Grand Hyatt on Collins Street.

As well as Monies jewellery, she also sells Georg Jensen antiques and items from her vintage collections of European and Japanese designers.

She says jewellery from Copenhagen combines very well with avant-garde Japanese fashion.

$485

Not for the faint-hearted. This pair of red horn earrings with black pearls is typical of Monies' bold statements.

$3800

This necklace from Monies' Unique collection has a combination of amber and amethyst.

$9000

Monies vintage amber neckpieces are especially prized by collectors. This piece, featuring an 18-carat gold clasp, has more than doubled in value.