Amorphous
Amorphous is an ongoing project. The limited edition pieces are a product of contemporary influences mixed with traditional techniques. Each piece is one of a kind.
How it started.
The need to find a new approach to my jewellery practice manifested over the second lockdown, in November 2020. With no external stimuli, it was up to me to keep myself creative, entertained and above all, sane. It was a transformative period of time or a "fluid state" as I called it. The changes in myself, my mood, my work and my life as I knew it were uncomfortable, unexpected and happened so fast that it took me time to process them. The important thing for me was to recognise the changes and figure out who the person on the other side was and what made her happy.
An education.
In all the years I’ve had my business, I never had any formal education on jewellery. I studied Fashion Design for my Bachelor’s Degree so the design element is rooted there. There is a physical loss in our fully digital world, I rarely use my hands to make anything. So in June 2021, I decided to take wax sculpting lessons in my hometown to learn how to manipulate and handle jewellers wax which opened up a new dimension to my practice. It feels spectacular to return to sketching, cutting things up, moving them around in real life and ultimately sculpting and creating in an analogue way.
The spark.
The primary inspiration for Amorphous came from a whirlwind trip to Venice. We had been on a trip to Rome but missed our flight back so decided to make the most of it by taking the train to the closest city that we could catch a return flight from. We had less than a day in the city; aperitivos, art and strolls were our top priorities. We visited the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, where I saw my first Hans Arp piece IRL, it was majestic. As we were strolling around the city, I stumbled upon a surreal scene which didn’t really look natural. This is light, reflecting on a Venetian canal. Looks digital, doesn’t it? It felt quite serendipitous to have witnessed that, this whole trip felt like living in a dream for 24 hours. My mind kept these images front and center and I was able to draw from that and use it as the foundation for this new line of jewellery objects. The pieces certainly carry some of these feelings alongside an air of adventure and the excitement of unfamiliar places yet to be explored.
The research.
Thorough and thought out research allows me to explore shapes, silhouettes and at the same time build a strong foundation for my concept. I enjoy compiling research as much as I enjoy making the pieces. It starts chaotic and abstract with many seemingly unrelated references, a creative mess if you will but as I progress and delve deeper into my concept it starts to make sense and allows me to clearly visualise the mood and direction of the collection. Piecing random sources of inspiration together is a challenge I relish. It can inspire me to look at things differently, create new shapes and abstract forms to work from whilst trying to find that common ground where they all coexist harmoniously and move the story forward.
The sketchbook.
My sketchbook is where I collate and process all the information I compile and the ideas I explore and ultimately becomes a very personal space, almost like a form of journaling. It’s the perfect vehicle for me to describe and illustrate my concept and share my journey with you. It shows how I perceive the world around me, how I interpret it and how my research informs my thought process. It’s where I weave pieces of information to form something bigger.
Design direction.
This is where all the research I have gathered and that has been processing in the background peers its head and guides me. This is what leads the design direction. The stills from the video of light and water, Hans Apr’s sculpture and my sketches worked in tandem to inspire this range of unique morsels. The shape of the water developed into little drawings which I then tried to re-imagine into wearable pieces. I cut, drew, overlapped them until I got a sort of amorphous blob that I placed on my body to explore position and scale.