As a small-scale metal designer / maker, my intention is to create a series of rings, which explore the concepts of adornment and functionality: the ring as a vessel.
I intend to experiment with the ideas of containment so as to deepen my own understanding of restraint within my discipline. We make assumptions about an individual’s cultural background based on appearance. Fashion controls the decisions individuals make about how they adorn themselves and the jewellery they wear. Hands and fingers are an expressive, flexible and versatile communication tool, with thousands of different gestures made worldwide and rings are part of that dialogue.
I draw inspiration from unusual objects, sculpture and designer/makers such as Bettina Dittlmann and Melanie Isverding and recently have been made aware of Christoph Zellweger and his book “Foreign Bodies” which intrigued me, because it challenges the mainstream and is “refreshingly unfashionable.”
Recycling metals is important on an environmental level and the metals’ history and transparency are a fundamental part of the process of my design process. I am going to use reclaimed/recycled silver as much as possible within my work. The process of manipulating the raw material, pushing its limits and experimentation will produce unexpected results: reticulation, bubbling, inclusions and cracking in the surface texture. Exploring the unexpected and the imperfections is contrarian but also inspirational and positive in terms of the development of my work.
