Jewelry Lovers

Whereas some costume jewellers of the late 20th century are happy to exploit artificial materials to create a contrived and sophisticated look, the dawn of a growing awareness of the value of natural products — like wood, paper and leather – means that strong references to all that is natural are now influential too.

Inseparable from this is the irreverence shown toward tradition by the jewellers. Like the artists of the 20th century, their main motivating and inspirational force is the desire to create something new and challenging, rather than a need to slot themselves into the pattern of how things have always been done in the past.

An alternative approach is to create a recognizable, almost traditional jewellery effect through the use of unusual materials. So today much jewellery that looks quite precious may, in fact, be constructed from painted wood, paper, glass or junk materials whose origins have been cleverly disguised.

Themes and concepts

The best modern jewellery also contains a proper concept or message. Much artistic jewellery is influenced by environmental ideas — it may, for example, recycle materials in its construction, be made of natural materials, or reflect environmental concerns in any number of ways.

Other jewellery contains a strong spiritual content through the use of religious symbols and motifs or the use of materials from religious settings — for example, Julia Foster embeds Old Testament texts in copper, steel and pewter to create unique pieces of jewellery. If you are designing your own jewellery, it is a good idea to ask yourself what are your most important beliefs and themes and then to use them as a starting point in your search for form and appropriate materials.

As well as its spiritual connotations, jewellery has often made some sort of political statement. It has been used in the past, and is still used today, as a symbol of wealth, of social standing and of marital status and there is no reason why you should not acknowledge these associations in your own work. One of the founding principles of modern designer jewellery is that beautiful things should generally be within everybody’s price range — hence the use of inexpensive materials and the relatively quick execution of the pieces. Yukatek, whose work is featured, claim that their “aim is to create jewels, which are little works of art, from non-precious materials. Each artist creates a part of the collection by hand — the unity of the collection derives from the choice of the theme and the materials used”

Another factor in jewellery design and execution is that important element of humour — much of the appeal of this type of jewellery is in its reflection of the wearer’s ability to laugh at himself or herself. The wearing of conventional jewellery announces the owner’s status and lifestyle: wearing jewellery that has no real monetary value or status attached to it proclaims the wearer to be an individual.

Lightheartedness acknowledges a wide range of influences that are all rich in imagery — the cowboy hats of the American West, the New Mexican influence with its wonderful colours of pale terracotta pinks, gray-blues and silver.

Art Deco jewellers took their inspiration from machines. Now there is jewellery influenced by astrological signs, the close study of fish scales and bones and computer print-outs of body heat. With a little imagination, you will start to see the ingredients for successful jewellery-making all around you, wherever you are.

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