East Wing Demolished Bracelet
The East Wing Demolished Bracelet is complete It was an intensive effort for the past five months. This week I am planning up updating this page with images of the fabrication.
The fabrication is complete, but in an unusual way, it isn't finished. The plan is to partially smash/demolish the bracelet.
The East Wing Demolished Bracelet is about how our current administration and Trump specifically has destroyed the East Wing without permission or authority, but he has destroyed so much more. People were even forbidden to take photos of the demolition of the East Wing.
Quote from Anne Applebaum on “Firing Line”: “The White House was build in the style that it was built for a reason. It was meant to be a modest classical balanced building. It was not a palace. It was modest home of a small “r” republican leader. Adding a gargantual addition, if you have seen the sketches of what the ballroom is supposed to look like, that dwarf the original 18th century house, this is the way of diminishing the original building, as well as the ideas behind it. You know architecture is not incidental or accidental. You know, it reflects who we are. Our surroundings affect us. The buildings of Wahsington, D.C.are designed to express ideals of the democracy and of liberty, and damages the ideas. It is not al all trivial. I think the destruction of the White House is a, it’s Trump seeking to remake the institution itself. It’s not just the building. It changing what it means to be an American president. The White House is meant to be for every president, left, right, Democrat, Republican. It has belong to many people over the years. You know the monuments, the Smithsonian, those are for all Americans. And Trump is saying, no, they’re for me. ?
I uploaded this video from Instagram for a few days. Find more of my videos of the construction on Instagram until this page is finished.
The bracelet is photographed in pristine condition, showcasing a tour de force of craft skill, mundane materials transformed by dedication, 38 years of experience with recycled tin cans, and a vision that jewelry and metalwork can express a powerful transforming message. Smashing at least one corner of the bracelet is the final step in transformation.
The date for smashing the bracelet is Monday, September 28, 2026 at 3:00 p.m. My plan is to start with a planishing hammer, and then use increasingly larger hammers, and then the sledgehammer if necessary. This bracelet is about this moment in time.
The demolition of the East Wing Demolished Bracelet will be recorded. If you want to be a real time witness, or if the members of the final selecting committee, want to witness the demolition in real time, please let me know. This will be live on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/harrieteestel?upcoming_event_id=18119691307937102
Design of the East Wing Demolished Bracelet
This drawing is by artist Harriete Estel Berman and her daughter Aryn Shelander. The photo was taken of my sketch book. We brainstormed to digest the idea I had about making a piece of jewelry about the demolition of the East Wing of the White House. You can see in the drawing the effort to replicate the window of the East Wing Corridor. Looking through the windows you can see that “We The People” is written using tin cans.
Compare this drawing to the finished bracelet.
Below that is a quick rendition of the windows of the East Wing Corridor. I had planned to put the pedestal on the bottom of the bracelet, but that was reconsidered as I new the pedestal would crush immediately. I decided early on to make the pedestal as a separate unit.
I decided not to add the Ionic columns between the windows as that was going to add tremendous complexity, and possibly strength, when I had the intention from the very beginning to smash the bracelet.
The East Wing of the White House was torn down by Trump without oversight or permission from any authorities to build a grandiose ballroom that dwarfs the White House. The ballroom departs in visible ways from the architecture of the White House by James Hoban. The White House by design by Hoban strove for simplicity in an effort to convey that the White House architecture symbolized the ideals of democracy. It was not a building for royalty, but a the people’s house.
An example of poor design alignment with the White House: The White House uses Ionic columns on the North and South Porticoes, and along the East Wing corridor. Trump wants to use Corinthian columns in the grandiose ballroom which is inconsistent with the White House aesthetic. The issues with the ballroom are also far more serious than just aesthetics. In an article from The Washington Post, the ballroom violates building fire and safety codes, lack of service stairs, inadequate bathrooms for a building intended to seat 1,300 guests. and can you imagine, “there was little in the design to prevent a kitchen fire from rapidly spreading into the event space on the floor above.”
The photo (left) has Trump’s signature sharpie marking.
Fabrication of East Wing Destroyed
Very soon, I will add a gallery of images (below) showing the fabrication of a bracelet that is a symbol about the destruction and demolition of the East Wing of the White House. The bracelet is not yet finished, but much closer. (I am still adding images.)
