Material Scraps, Structure, and the Energy of Boundaries

This yr’s three winners of some of the prestigious awards within the discipline of up to date jewellery every have very totally different approaches. They work with very totally different supplies: Jounghye Park with silk; Nikita Kavryzhkin, stones; and Eija Mustonen, metallic. I interviewed them about their methods of considering, their sources of inspiration, and the problems they spotlight by means of their work.

• Jounghye Park (from South Korea) makes use of silk in an eco-friendly approach, connecting her items to the traditions of her nation
• Nikita Kavryzhkin (from Russia, based mostly in Germany), with a background in structure, transitioned into jewelry-making six years in the past
• Eija Mustonen (from Finland) explores themes of boundaries and security in her work

Jounghye Park Connects with Ancestors by means of Silk

Elena Karpilova: Silk is the principle materials in your work. Why silk? Is there a selected story behind the way you began utilizing it?
Jounghye Park: In Korea, our conventional clothes, the hanbok, is sort of at all times constructed from silk. It’s not one thing individuals put on each day—it’s saved for very particular moments like weddings or large holidays.

After I was a baby, I used to be utterly drawn to the bride’s hanbok. It was so colourful and chic, and I discovered it mysterious that the material got here from silkworms. They’re extra than simply [weaving and sewing] methods—they carry the wonder and knowledge of many generations.

Utilizing silk helps me really feel related to the surprise our ancestors should have felt—and thru my jewellery, I hope to share that very same feeling with others.

When did you begin exploring pure supplies and ecological themes in your items, and why?
Jounghye Park: I used to be deeply influenced by Jeremy Rifkin’s perspective, which recognized local weather change as the basis explanation for the broader ecological and systemic disaster. One other main affect was a documentary about Accra, Ghana. It confirmed a panorama actually fashioned by mountains of discarded clothes from all over the world. The picture that seared itself into my reminiscence was of cows chewing on scraps of cloth from these huge piles. It was completely surprising.

That story pressured me to confront a actuality in my very own studio: the ever-growing pile of cloth scraps. To create my items, I dye silk, sew, and lower the material. For each piece that’s born from my scissors, or as a result of dyeing errors, one other pile of “ineffective” scraps or discarded materials is created.

What are among the environmental points in Korea that concern you or affect your work?
Jounghye Park: I reside in a constructing with 20 households. Each morning, I’m shocked by how a lot trash comes from simply our constructing. It worries me, particularly seeing how a lot of it’s from single-use objects. It makes me take into consideration how simply we throw issues away—issues which might be low cost, small, or made for use simply as soon as.

I additionally really feel uncomfortable that my inventive work naturally produces some waste. I hope that persevering with my work doesn’t simply add extra trash to the world, however as an alternative turns into a method to speak about lowering waste and caring for the atmosphere.

What plant would Jounghye Park like to have in her dream backyard? Discover out in our Instagram rapid-fire Q&A, right here.

From Structure to Jewellery: Nikita Kavryzhkin

You could have a background in structure. Apparently, different jewelers additionally come from an architectural background. For instance, Empar Juanes, one in all final yr’s Herbert Hofmann Prize winners, skilled as an architect. Do you are feeling that your architectural training has influenced your jewellery apply in any approach?
Nikita Kavryzhkin: My architectural training and apply have had a direct affect on my jewellery work—simply as they’d influence any inventive self-discipline. I don’t are inclined to separate inventive practices into strict classes—for me, working with kind, whatever the medium, comes from the identical place. After all, every discipline has its personal practical points and particular calls for, however the basis stays the identical.

Architectural training, for my part, is likely one of the most common inventive trainings. I studied on the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts—a really conventional, tutorial establishment with a demanding, years-long preparation course of simply to be admitted. This type of prolonged, classical method to artwork training—together with portray, drawing, sculpture, composition, and extra—offers a deep understanding of and sensitivity towards kind, composition, texture, coloration, and proportion. And that’s the muse for any visible artwork.

Why did you resolve to change to jewellery?
Nikita Kavryzhkin: In actual fact, my very first encounter with jewellery got here on the peak of my archaeological obsession, in 2014. Impressed by historic Russian jewellery, I carved a pendant in wax, purchased some gold, discovered a jeweler to solid it, after which completed and polished it myself with improvised instruments. As you would possibly guess, it was a present for a woman I had a crush on. Let’s simply say it was an experiment in each jewellery and romance—with blended outcomes.

The shift to jewellery occurred nearly a yr earlier than I began my MFA research in Idar-Oberstein, in 2019. At the moment, I had already been working for 5 years in one of many greatest architectural studios in St. Petersburg. The day-to-day routine of working in an workplace got here to some extent the place it outweighed the inventive half.

Inform us extra concerning the sequence Blessed Are the Meek or Squaring the Circle and The Little Prince.
Nikita Kavryzhkin: The sequence Blessed Are the Meek or Squaring the Circle takes its title from the 9 Beatitudes. Meekness and humility, central to many spiritual traditions, additionally carry which means past them. This sequence displays on these concepts, drawing from private experiences, interior conflicts, and a technique of questioning.

I aimed to signify these ideas visually by means of minimal but expressive means. The ultimate piece, Quadrature of a Circle, references an unsolvable geometric drawback, symbolizing the pursuit of seemingly unattainable beliefs. Simply as squaring the circle is a futile endeavor, meekness and humility can really feel unattainable.

The sequence Little Prince was impressed by the steadiness between the seen and the invisible, the literal and the symbolic within the well-known e-book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. That’s precisely what I attempt to work with in my very own items—shapes and supplies that talk quietly and subtly, however carry weight. I like that that e-book will not be moralistic. It opens area.  The baobabs will not be simply timber, the rose is not only a flower—all the things stands for one thing better, but stays quite simple.

In terms of a favourite quote, it’s arduous to decide on only one, however right here is one amongst many:

“A baobab is one thing you’ll by no means, by no means have the ability to do away with in the event you attend to it too late. It spreads over your entire planet. It bores clear by means of it with its roots. And if the planet is just too small, and the baobabs are too many, they cut up it into items …”

What would Kavryzhkin be if not an architect or a jeweler? Discover out in our Instagram rapid-fire Q&A, right here.

The Fantastic thing about Lakes and the Energy of Setting Boundaries: Eija Mustonen

Which three phrases would possibly describe your inventive method?
Eija Mustonen: That is troublesome. I simply known as my good friend Helena (Lehtinen) and these is likely to be my phrases at the moment: looking for clear considering, looking for fearlessness, primarily rustic.

In your opinion, do your items replicate the Finnish spirit or tradition not directly? If that’s the case, which sequence specifically? And the way does that come by means of?
Eija Mustonen: I imagine that the agricultural tradition of jap Finland and the aesthetics of my childhood dwelling have had a major affect on my work. That is maybe most clearly evident in two of my sequence of works.

A few a long time in the past, I spent a couple of months within the Netherlands, the place I discovered myself feeling homesick. I missed Finnish nature, the area round me, the forests, and the waterways. I began to rethink what jewellery is to me. I turned these values of jewellery into my very own values. What is gorgeous, uncommon, and treasured to me? Stunning and treasured to me is the panorama and particularly the lakes, water generally, round me in Finland. The shapes, colours, and supplies inform concerning the relationship with custom and my very own background. This sequence is named Höytiäinen.

Some years later there have been deaths and sorrows in my household, some family members and associates had handed away. Within the previous occasions, individuals used to put on a bit of jewellery to indicate they have been mourning. I’ve made plain types of conventional pendants and used “mourning” supplies reminiscent of black silver, horn, and ebony. I expanded the theme to Finland, to land we had misplaced to Russia, Lake Laatokka and islands within the Gulf of Finland. The jewellery is solid in silver; the items are heavy and darkish, as is grief.

You’re well-known in your sequence of works that shield and defend the wearer. Themes like shelter and security have gotten more and more related all over the world. What does it imply to really feel protected, for you personally?
Eija Mustonen: I began making works associated to safety about 10 years in the past. These works mix blacksmithing methods with basic safety. I hammered metallic protecting tools, mittens, and aprons. Steel transforms these initially gentle supplies into armor-like clothes. The theme expanded to incorporate extra basic safety, each bodily and psychological. In any case, safety can also be about setting boundaries.

I reside in rural jap Finland, close to Lappeenranta, about 15 kilometers from the Russian border. The border between Finland and Russia is 1,343.6 kilometres lengthy and contains each land and maritime borders. On account of the battle in Ukraine, the border between Finland and Russia is closed. This can be a main change for the area. In these turbulent occasions, the theme of safety takes on a fair stronger geopolitical dimension.

If Eija Mustonen had to decide on only one materials to work with, what it might be? Discover out in our Instagram rapid-fire Q&A, right here.

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