Unexpected Pleasures

Ted Noton, Mercedes Benz brooches

Caroline Broadhead, Viel headpiece

gijs bakker, circle within a circle bracelet

On Tuesday night the gallery staff went to the private view of the new Unexpected Pleasures exhibition at the Design Museum, London. Not surprisingly, everyone there was dressed to the nines and adorned in their finest jewels!

The jewellery that people choose to wear communicates a vast variety meaning, among them a sense of self, identity and social belonging. Unexpected Pleasures successfully conveys this idea while also celebrating the skill and talent of the makers.

Curated by jewellery designer and maker Dr. Susan Cohn, Unexpected Pleasures presents over 200 pieces of contemporary jewellery. All of the work challenges the conventional function of jewellery as a symbol of status, sentimentality and taste – forcing the limits of human adornment.

It's a very interesting look at jewellery from both the viewpoint of the maker and the wearer. How a physical object can be forged with meaning and emotion. Can a ring manufactured to mimic a finger blister be considered a thing of beauty? Does the migration of the iPod from the pocket to the lapel cross the role of industrial designer with jeweller? Does plastering gold leaf to the gums mean the beginning of true self-expression and the ‘end of the trend’?

Unexpected Pleasures celebrates jewellery in all its innovative glory and we are delighted to see a show of this scale in London. It seems lately that there has been a surge of interest in the field on contemporary jewellery and we say about time to!

Ruth Tomlinson

Ruth Tomlinson is interested in the idea of life cycles, changes in nature and in transience from birth to decay. She finds tiny intricacies within the natural world and this imagery influences her to create sensitive and delicate jewellery.

Joel Degen

This series of rings showcases Degen’s incredible proficiency with cold working techniques.  The cool grey tones of the titanium are enhanced by an iridescent  blue from anodizing.  Degen uses rivets that are virtually invisible, and traps the diamonds between layers in a tension setting.

Elaine Cox

Elaine Cox is inspired by the earth's surface and archaeological drawings and maps. When she uses precious stones they are usually unpolished and uncut, challenging the traditional notion that diamonds should be faceted  whilst celebrating the natural surfaces of the land. Her diamonds are all used in a raw, crushed un-polished state, evoking thoughts of their natural geological state.

Karen-Ann Dicken

Inspired by architectural structures and theory Karen-Ann Dicken uses the principles of triangulation to create strong, geodesic structures which are scaled down to jewellery size. 

Maud Traon

An explosive mix of coloured fimo clay, electroformed copper, glass crystals and diamonds, finished off with an extravagant amount of glitter show that diamonds don’t always have to be paired with precious metals. Traon's work reflects a deeper interest in the idea of dreamlike landscapes and sugar-sweet fantasies and is the pinnacle of decadence.

Märta Mattsson

Märta Mattsson finds beauty in things that other people find strange or are even repulsed by.  “I become fascinated when there is something you do not want to see and the feeling you get when you do not want to look at something, yet you still do.”  Inspired by 18^th century cabinets of curiosities, Märta takes seemingly inappropriate materials and turns them into extraordinary objects of astonishment. The spiders and beetles she uses are transformed and reborn: given a new life as objects of wonder.

Myia Bonner

Using the iconic imagery and shape of the much desired diamond Myia Bonner questions current trends and traditions within today’s culture. Her graphic shapes present us with a delicate diamond ring in a bold and playful way.  

Nina Bukvic

Croatian born Nina Bukvic creates her work using an unorthodox approach, letting materials and techniques almost run out of control; allowing the construction process to influence the final forms of the jewellery. This spontaneous approach has led her to constantly develop her ideas; she simultaneously works on a variety of collections all at one time, so that each new collection is just an extension of the previous one. 

Frances Wadsworth-Jones

At first glance Frances Wadsworth-Jones’ jewellery appears conservative and conventional. It is only when you look again that you see the tiny ants that are mischievously running away with the jewels. These visual contradictions test the rules of fine jewellery and explore the tension and delight that are found when the familiar becomes deliciously strange.

David Roux Fouillet

We are very excited to have this piece in the gallery! David Roux Fouillet's diamond-shaped steel necklace rests on a rotating device and is plunged into soapy water. As each of the diamond shapes emerge from the liquid, a bubble forms over its structure: creating a gently shimmering ephemeral surface, which imitates a real diamond. Fouillet creates a clever and thought provoking way of questioning the value of beauty and preciousness. 

“More than its economic value, it is the diamond’s emotional value that fascinates me. By transforming fragile soap bubbles into the king of gems I hope to trigger the imagination of the viewer and question notions of eternity, beauty and material value.” - David Roux Fouillet.

Maria Militsi

Maria Militsi employs the potential of objects as echoes of experience; fragments of memory and markers of loss. She is interested in things that are ordinary and familiar, yet strange, and seeks to bring different objects and ideas into close relationship to form new meanings. This feature of her work has been described by Caroline Broadhead as “a collision of opposites: complete and incomplete, faithful and mutinous, melancholic and humorous. These rings are made from sterling silver, used plastic dolls shoes and diamonds. 

Daphne Krinos

Over the next few weeks we'll be posting about the work of all the makers in our Take a Fresh Look at Diamonds exhibition. First up - Daphne Krinos. The work of Greek born Krinos has been exhibited in the UK,  Europe, the USA and Japan and her jewellery can be found in collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Goldsmiths’ Company and the Crafts Council. This grouping uses heavily oxidised silver and translucent precious gemstones which allow the sparkle of the diamonds to truly stand out.

Take a Fresh Look at Diamonds

David Roux Fouillet with his diamond necklace installation

Frances Wadsworth-Jones and Maria Militsi

David Roux Fouillet and Jacqueline Cullen

Myia Bonner

Gallery Manager Georgina Black with Maud Traon and Joel Degen

On Thursday night we had the private view of our exhibition 'Take a Fresh Look at Diamonds' which runs until the 3rd of November. Thanks so much to all who came. If was a great night! Here's the low down about the exhibition:

For centuries, the purity and magnificence of diamonds has captured the worlds imagination – revered by royalty, celebrated by Hollywood and treasured all over the world - this exhibition asks us to consider the alluring hold diamonds have over us. Many of the pieces will provoke surprise and discussion about the role of one of the worlds most coveted gems: Diamonds

Makers:

Catherine Mannheim

Daphne Krinos

David Roux Fouillet

Elaine Cox

Emmeline Hastings

Frances Wadsworth-Jones

Jacqueline Cullen

Jane Adam

Jane Macintosh

Jo Hayes-Ward

Joel Degen

Josef Koppmann

Karen-Ann Dicken

Maria Militsi

Märta Mattsson

Maud Traon

Michael Berger

Myia Bonner

Niklas Evje

Nina Bukvic

Ruth Tomlinson

Wendy Ramshaw CBE RDI

Elinor Voytal

We have some great new work in the gallery by Elinor Voytal. Elinor graduated from Bucks University with a first class degree in knitted textiles. Her designs are inspired by the fusion of hard metal into the soft, delicate and luxurious structures of machine knitted silk and viscose.

She is interested in the way the embedding of metal findings changes the feel and weight of the fabric. The colourway for her graduate collection was taken from pixelised manipulations of her own photographs and she continues to use photography as inspiration.

Added Value?

Did you go to the Craft Councils new touring exhibition Added Value?? It launched at Design Junction which ran from 20 - 23 September as part of this years London Design Festival. We went along to the opening night and it was fantastic!

Responding to current economic trends, Added Value? questions the value of contemporary craft within the realms of branding and luxury. Reasons why we buy contemporary craft today and how our desire for authenticity, quality and craftsmanship are redefining notions of luxury on a wider scale. It investigates peoples different perceptions of value through six key themes: bespoke, skill, experience, materials, brands and the everyday.

It all very relevant stuff and things that we have been thinking about here in the gallery too. Images:
Simon Hasan, Mannequin's for Fendi, Boiled leather, gold and palladium gilding, PU resin, hot-rolled steel
Bompas and Par, St Pauls Catherdral Jelly
Zoe Arnold, Set of 3 Thinking Earrings

New Talent Private View

Carrie Dickens

Mariko Sumioka

Francesca Flynn

Thank you to all who came to the private view of our New Talent exhibition on Thursday night. It was fantastic. In fact, we were so busy chatting to people that we completely forgot to take any photos! Luckily we remembered  right at end of the night just before a few of the makers left to go home. Here a few photos which we managed to snap of the makers with their work.

Heather Woof

Heather Woof has just completed an MA in Jewellery at Edinburgh College of Art. She showcased these amazing windswept pieces there in August and now we are delighted to have them here in the gallery. 

Heathers 'windswept' collection has been inspired by the wild Scottish weather and is reminiscent of the powerful natural forces which shape the landscape around us. Through experimentation with hand cut titanium and mild steel she  has been working to evoke a sense of dynamism in these otherwise static materials. She aims to embody the feeling of fluid movement in hard and unyielding metal, to create sculptural pieces that appear to have been quite literally blown over by the wind.

Nicola Wilde

The tactile qualities of Nicola Wilde’s metal forms are inspired by water, and its intriguing movements. These visuals led her to create her organic pieces which mimic the soft appearance of water contained within a solid shell. Not just visually stimulating, Nicola’s work also contains a hidden playfulness: the vivid coloured powder held within the silver vessel’s will fizz and erupt upon contact with water. This effervescent, ephemeral jewellery gives an enchanting one-off bubbling performance. The silver vessels empty of the powder can still be worn after the short lived spectacle. Nicola graduated from Birmingham Institute of Art and Design with a BA (Hons) in Jewellery & Silversmithing. 

Mariko Sumioka

Mariko is fascinated by traditional Japanese architecture; the materials, colours, linear forms, shapes and spaces. She is not only inspired visually but also theoretically as she researched the cultural traditions of those living and working within Japanese buildings; how humans interact with the architecture. Enamelling allows Mariko to explore both this abstract inspiration and the natural materials and textures which are found in Japanese architecture. 

Mariko has just completed an artist in residence at Edinburgh College of Art after receiving a First class BA(Hons) in Jewellery & Silversmithing, the previous year also from Edinburgh College of Art. She has now just moved to London to join Cockpit Arts. We look forward to seeing the new work she makes there.